Control of Contractility in Spirostomum by Dissociated Calcium Ions

The freshwater protozoan, Spirostomum ambiguum, exhibits generalized contraction when electrically stimulated with a DC pulse. Light and electron microscopic studies show a subcortical filamentous network, believed responsible for generating contractile tension, in association with vesicles which were shown to accumulate calcium oxalate precipitates. Organisms microinjected with the calcium-sensitive, bioluminescent protein, aequorin, emit light when stimulated to contract. Analyses of cinefilm records of electrically induced contraction indicate that contraction may occur up to 25 msec after the onset of stimulation at a point when the calcium-aequorin light emission is at a peak. The evidence shows that calcium release from an interval compartment is directly associated with the onset of contraction in Spirostomum, and that the removal of calcium, through some internal sequestering mechanism, signals relaxation.