We have previously shown that alkaline treatment of NADP generates a derivative which can mobilize Ca2+ from sea urchin egg homogenates (Clapper, D. L., Walseth, T. F., Dargie, P. J., and Lee, H. C. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 9561-9568). In this study, the active derivative was purified and shown by high pressure liquid chromatography to be distinct from NADP and NADPH. However, its proton NMR spectrum was virtually identical to that of NADP. The mass of its molecular ion was measured by high resolution mass spectrometry to be 743.0510, one mass unit larger than the corresponding ion of NADP. These results are consistent with the active derivative being nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP). Ca2+ release induced by NAADP was saturable with a half-maximal concentration of about 30 nM. The release was specific since NADP and nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide were ineffective even at 10-40-fold higher concentrations. The NAADP-dependent Ca2+ release showed desensitization and was insensitive to heparin and a specific antagonist of cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR), 8-amino-cADPR. The release mechanism did not require calmodulin. This is similar to the inositol trisphosphate-sensitive release but distinct from that of cADPR. That the NAADP-sensitive Ca2+ stores were different from those sensitive to inositol trisphosphate- or cADPR was further indicated by their differences in distribution on Percoll density gradients. Microinjection of NAADP into live sea urchin eggs induced transient elevation of intracellular Ca2+ and triggered the cortical reaction, indicating the NAADP-dependent mechanism is operative in intact cells.