Stoichiometry of catecholamine/proton exchange across the chromaffin-granule membrane

Catecholamines are accumulated by bovine chromaffin-granule "ghosts" in the presence of MgATP at 25 degrees C. With low concentrations of catecholamine, ratios of internal to external amine concentration of up to 20 000 were obtained. These values fit well with a transport model in which amine accumulation is both electrogenic and dependent on a pH gradient across the membrane.