SUMMARY1. The effects of AMgADP on cross-bridge kinetics were investigated using laser flash photolysis of caged ATP (P3-1(2-nitrophenyl) ethyladenosine 5'-triphosphate), in guinea-pig portal vein smooth muscle permeabilized with Staphylococcus aureus atoxin. Isometric tension and in-phase stiffness transitions from rigor state were monitored upon photolysis of caged ATP. The estimated concentration of ATP released from caged ATP by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) was 1P3 mM.2. The time course of relaxation initiated by photolysis of caged ATP in the absence of Ca2+ was well fitted during the initial 200 ms by two exponential functions with tine constants of. respectively, T1 = 34 ms and T2 = 1P2 s and relative amplitudes of 0 14 and 0 86. Multiple exponential functions were needed to fit longer intervals; the half-time of the overall relaxation was 0-8 s. The second order rate constant for cross-bridge detachment by ATP, estimated from the rate of initial relaxation, was 0A4-23 x 104 M-1 s-1.3. MgADP dose dependently reduced both the relative amplitude of the first component and the rate constant of the second component of relaxation. Conversely, treatment of muscles with apyrase. to deplete endogenous ADP, increased the relative amplitude of the first component. In the presence of MgADP, in-phase stiffness decreased during force maintenance, suggesting that the force per crossbridge increased. The apparent dissociation constant (Kd) of MgADP for the crossbridge binding site, estimated from its concentration-dependent effect on the relative amplitude of the first component. was 1P3/M. This affinity is much higher than the previously reported values (50-300 JtM for smooth muscle; 18-400 /tM for skeletal muscle: 7-10 /um for cardiac muscle). It is possible that the high affinity reflects the properties of a state generated during the co-operative reattachment cycle, rather than that of the rigor bridge.4. The rate constant of MgADP release from cross-bridges, estimated from its concentration-dependent effect on the rate constant of the second (T2) component, was 0'35-7'7 s-'. To the extent that reattachment of cross-bridges could slow relaxation even during the initial 200 ms. this rate constant may be an underestimate. § To whom all correspondence should be addressed.Ms 1080 2E. XISHIY-E AND OTHERS 5. Inorganic phosphate (Pi, 30 mM) did not affect the rate of relaxation during the initial -50 ms, but accelerated the slower phase of relaxation, consistent with a cyclic cross-bridge model in which Pi increases the proportion of cross-bridges in detached ('weakly bound') states. In the presence of 100 /tM MgADP, Pi (10-50 mM) predominantly accelerated the final slow phase of relaxation, rather than the initial (T1 and T2) components, and shortened the duration of the plateau phase that followed the initial rapid relaxation.6. Muscles, in which the myosin light chains were thiophosphorylated, relaxed during the initial 40-50 ms after photolysis of caged ATP at the same rate as muscles with non-thiophos...