Effects of Cat + -induced Cat + release blockers, ruthenium red (RR) and Mgt +, on Ag+-induced Cat + release were studied using skinned muscle fibers or fragmented heavy SR (HSR) prepared from frog muscle, and compared with those on caffeine-induced one. Exposure of the skinned fibers to 5 M Ag+ produced a rapid and large contraction in the presence of 0.043 mM free Mgt +. When Mgt + concentration was increased to 0.86 mM, Ag+ led to a large transient contraction, combined with a small tonic one. The transient component was completely blocked by high Mgt + (3.64 mM), but the tonic one was not. Cat +-ATPase activity was not stimulated by increase of Mg2+ from 0.86 to 3.64 mM. Ag+ and caffeine induced a rapid Cat + efflux from HSR in a dose-dependent manner. RR over a range from 1 to l0,uM dose-dependently inhibited the Ca2+ efflux induced by 10µM Ag + . Despite increase of RR to 30 pM, however, further inhibition of the Cat + efflux was not produced any more (77.8± 12.2% inhibition). A 10 mM caffeine-induced efflux of Cat + was blocked slightly by only 0.5,uM RR and almost completely by 3 µM. A slight inhibition (about 28%) of the Cat +-ATPase activity was observed in the presence of 10µM Ag+ in 0.5mg SR protein/ml of medium. RR and caffeine did not affect the enzyme activity. These results indicate that frog SR could induce a rapid release of Ca2+ upon Ag+ and caffeine, suggesting that Ag+ may have two different binding sites to release Cat +; one is on Cat +-induced Cat + release channel and the other on RR-insensitive site.