Nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP) is a Ca2؉ -releasing messenger. Biological data suggest that its receptor has two binding sites: one high-affinity locking site and one low-affinity opening site. To directly address the presence and function of these putative binding sites, we synthesized and tested analogues of the NAADP antagonist Ned-19. Ned-19 itself inhibits both NAADP-mediated Ca 2؉ release and NAADP binding. A fluorometry bioassay was used to assess NAADPmediated Ca 2؉ release, whereas a radioreceptor assay was used to assess binding to the NAADP receptor (only at the high-affinity site). In Ned-20, the fluorine is para rather than ortho as in Ned-19. Ned-20 does not inhibit NAADP-mediated Ca 2؉ release but inhibits NAADP binding. Conversely, Ned-19.4 (a methyl ester of Ned-19) inhibits NAADP-mediated Ca 2؉ release but cannot inhibit NAADP binding. Furthermore, Ned-20 prevents the self-desensitization response characteristic of NAADP in sea urchin eggs, confirming that this response is mediated by a high-affinity allosteric site to which NAADP binds in the radioreceptor assay. Collectively, these data provide the first direct evidence for two binding sites (one high-and one lowaffinity) on the NAADP receptor.
Ca2ϩ is an extremely versatile and powerful second messenger (1). Three accepted Ca 2ϩ -releasing second messengers that cells utilize to control the spatiotemporal properties of these Ca 2ϩ signals are inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (2), cyclic ADPribose (3), and nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP) 2 (4). Of these three messengers, little is known about the mechanism of action of NAADP. NAADP is the most potent of the three Ca 2ϩ -releasing messengers (5), and its actions are pharmacologically distinct from inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate and cyclic ADP-ribose (6 -9). Controversy surrounds both the identity of the NAADP-activated channel and its organellar location. There is evidence for the NAADP receptor being the transient receptor potential mucolipin 1 channel (10), the ryanodine receptor (11, 12), or the two-pore channel (Refs. 13-15; for review, see Ref. 16). There is evidence for the Ca 2ϩ store targeted by NAADP being the endoplasmic reticulum (11) or physically distinct (17), acidic, lysosome-related organelles (18).One of the most intriguing features of NAADP is the relationship between concentration, binding, and response (5,9,19). In sea urchin eggs, a subthreshold concentration of NAADP that does not itself release Ca 2ϩ is able to prevent Ca 2ϩ release in response to a second addition of NAADP that would normally be able to release Ca 2ϩ (20,21). This unusual desensitization may relate to the formation of a spatial and temporal "memory" (22,23). This effect is thought to be due to a second high-affinity inhibitory site present on the receptor (24); thus, at low concentrations, NAADP only binds to this site and is able to prevent Ca 2ϩ release via this receptor. In contrast to sea urchin eggs, in mammalian tissue, NAADP has a bell-shaped concentration-r...