“…Early attempts to define the mechanism by which catecholamines mediate the increased rate of cardiac relaxation yielded conflicting results (Hess et al, 1968;Entman et al, 1969;Shinebourne and White, 1970), which came to be understood better only after the discovery that intracellular effects of cyclic AMP were, in many instances, mediated by cyclic AMP-dependent PK. These PK, after activation by cyclic AMP, catalyze the phosphorylation of various intracellular proteins (Walsh et al, 1968;Miyamoto et al, 1969), including the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum (La Raia and Morkin, 1973;Tada et al, 1975;Kirchberger and Chu, 1976;Kirchberger and Raffo, 1977;Wray et al, 1973;Kirchberger et al, 1974;Wray and Gray, 1977.) It is now generally accepted that calcium uptake by cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles is increased by as much as 2-to 3-fold after preincubation with cyclic AMP and cyclic AMP-dependent PK (La Raia and Morkin, 1973;Katz et al, 1975;Tada et al, 1975;Kirchberger et al, 1972;Tada et al, 1975;.…”