Calcium Dependence of the Mechanical Response Evoked by Okadaic Acid in Smooth Muscle

The effects of okadaic acid (OA), obtained from a culture of the marine dinoflagellate Prorocentrum Lima were studied on isolated strips of rat myometrium. The contractile response evoked by OA at 5, 10, and 20 μM in normal physiological solution was unaffected in the presence of tetrodotoxin (10 μM), indomethacin (3 μM), or a cocktail of antagonists which blocked muscarinic, adrenergic, histaminergic, serotonergic, and opioid receptors. Similarly, the response to OA was unaffected in the presence of nifedipine at a concentration (1 μM) which completely or highly blocked the response to KCl (60 mM), oxytocin (1 μM), or acetylcholine (100 μM). In a Ca 2+ -free 1 mM EGTA-containing solution, …