In this study, the direct effects of exterior abscisic acid (ABA) on both calcium distribution of mesophyll cells and cytosolic calcium concentration of guard cells were examined. The distribution of Ca2+ localization were observed with calcium antimonate precipitate-electromicroscopic-cyto-chemical methods after treated with ABA and pretreated with ethylene glycol-bis-(2-aminoethylether)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid (EGTA), verapamil (Vp), and trifluoperazine (TFP). The laser scanning confocal microscopy was used to measure the cytosolic calcium concentrations of guard cells under different treatments. The results showed that the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration of mesophyll cells was induced to increase by ABA, but to decrease in both outside cell and the vacuoles within 10 min after treatments. The cytosolic calcium concentration of guard cells was increased gradually with the lag in treatment time. However, both EGTA and TFP could inverse those effects, indicating that the increase of cytosolic calcium induced by exterior ABA was mainly caused by calcium influx. The results also showed that calmodulin could influence both the calcium distribution of mesophyll cells and calcium concentration of guard cells. It shows that calmodulin participates in the process of ABA signal transduction, but the mechanism is not known as yet. The changes both calcium distribution of mesophyll cells and calcium concentration of guard cells further proved that the variations of cytosolic Ca2+ concentration induced by ABA were involved in the stomatal movements of maize seedlings.
