Potentiation of the isometric twitch and mechanism of tension recruitment in mammalian skeletal muscle

1979 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.W Ranatunga
2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 350-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dilson E Rassier ◽  
Brian R MacIntosh

In skeletal muscle, there is a length dependence of staircase potentiation for which the mechanism is unclear. In this study we tested the hypothesis that abolition of this length dependence by caffeine is effected by a mechanism independent of enhanced Ca2+ release. To test this hypothesis we have used caffeine, which abolishes length dependence of potentiation, and dantrolene sodium, which inhibits Ca2+ release. In situ isometric twitch contractions of rat gastrocnemius muscle before and after 20 s of repetitive stimulation at 5 Hz were analyzed at optimal length (Lo), Lo - 10%, and Lo + 10%. Potentiation was observed to be length dependent, with an increase in developed tension (DT) of 78 ± 12, 51 ± 5, and 34 ± 9% (mean ± SEM), at Lo - 10%, Lo, and Lo + 10%, respectively. Caffeine diminished the length dependence of activation and suppressed the length dependence of staircase potentiation, giving increases in DT of 65±13, 53 ± 11, and 45 ± 12% for Lo - 10%, Lo, and Lo + 10%, respectively. Dantrolene administered after caffeine did not reverse this effect. Dantrolene alone depressed the potentiation response, but did not affect the length dependence of staircase potentiation, with increases in DT of 58 ± 17, 26 ± 8, and 18 ± 7%, respectively. This study confirms that there is a length dependence of staircase potentiation in mammalian skeletal muscle which is suppressed by caffeine. Since dantrolene did not alter this suppression of the length dependence of potentiation by caffeine, it is apparently not directly modulated by Ca2+ availability in the myoplasm.


1990 ◽  
Vol 259 (3) ◽  
pp. C432-C438 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Moore ◽  
B. M. Palmer ◽  
S. L. Williams ◽  
H. Tanabe ◽  
R. W. Grange ◽  
...  

The effect of muscle contraction on phosphorylatable myosin light chain (P-light chain) phosphate content and isometric twitch tension was examined at 25, 30, and 35 degrees C in intact mouse extensor digitorum longus muscle. Peak tetanic tension was unaffected by temperature, whereas peak unpotentiated isometric twitch tension was inversely proportional to muscle incubation temperature. The extent of phosphate incorporation into P-light chain elicited by a 20-s train of twitches (5/s) was inversely proportional to muscle incubation temperature, whereas the fractional increase in twitch tension (twitch potentiation) elicited by repetitive stimulation was directly proportional to muscle incubation temperature. After the twitch train, the rate of decline of potentiated twitch tension and of P-light chain dephosphorylation was directly proportional to muscle incubation temperature. The net result was that a significant and unique relationship between P-light chain phosphate content and contraction-induced tension potentiation existed at each temperature examined. The slope of the P-light chain phosphate vs. isometric twitch potentiation relationship varied directly as a function of muscle incubation temperature. The observations that the slope of this relationship increases and that unpotentiated twitch tension decreases when muscle incubation temperature is increased support the hypothesis that contraction-induced tension potentiation in intact mammalian skeletal muscle is the result of a sensitization of the contractile element to activation by Ca2+ that is brought about by P-light chain phosphorylation.


2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 423-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Pette

Mammalian skeletal muscle fibers display a great adaptive potential. This potential results from the ability of muscle fibers to adjust their molecular, functional, and metabolic properties in response to altered functional demands, such as changes in neuromuscular activity or mechanical loading. Adaptive changes in the expression of myofibrillar and other protein isoforms result in fiber type transitions. These transitions occur in a sequential order and encompass a spectrum of pure and hybrid fibers. Depending on the quality, intensity, and duration of the alterations in functional demand, muscle fibers may undergo functional transitions in the direction of slow or fast, as well as metabolic transitions in the direction of aerobic-oxidative or glycotytic. The maximum range of possible transitions in either direction depends on the fiber phenotype and is determined by its initial location in the fiber spectrum. Key words: Ca-sequestering proteins, energy metabolism, fiber type transition, myofibrillar protein isofonns, myosin, neuromuscular activity


2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (12) ◽  
pp. 996-1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael I Lindinger ◽  
Thomas J Hawke ◽  
Lisa Vickery ◽  
Laurie Bradford ◽  
Shonda L Lipskie

The contributions of Na+/K+-ATPase, K+ channels, and the NaK2Cl cotransporter (NKCC) to total and unidirectional K+ flux were determined in mammalian skeletal muscle at rest. Rat hindlimbs were perfused in situ via the femoral artery with a bovine erythrocyte perfusion medium that contained either 86Rb or 42K, or both simultaneously, to determine differences in ability to trace unidirectional K+ flux in the absence and presence of K+-flux inhibitors. In most experiments, the unidirectional flux of K+ into skeletal muscle (JinK) measured using 86Rb was 8–10% lower than JinK measured using 42K. Ouabain (5 mM) was used to inhibit Na+/K+-ATPase activity, 0.06 mM bumetanide to inhibit NKCC activity, 1 mM tetracaine or 0.5 mM barium to block K+ channels, and 0.05 mM glybenclamide (GLY) to block ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channels. In controls, JinK remained unchanged at 0.31 ± 0.03 µmol·g–1·min–1 during 55 min of perfusion. The ouabain-sensitive Na+/K+-ATPase contributed to 50 ± 2% of basal JinK, K+ channels to 47 ± 2%, and the NKCC to 12 ± 1%. GLY had minimal effect on JinK, and both GLY and barium inhibited unidirectional efflux of K+ (JoutK) from the cell through K+ channels. Combined ouabain and tetracaine reduced JinK by 55 ± 2%, while the combination of ouabain, tetracaine, and bumetanide reduced JinK by 67 ± 2%, suggesting that other K+-flux pathways may be recruited because the combined drug effects on inhibiting JinK were not additive. The main conclusions are that the NKCC accounted for about 12% of JinK, and that KATP channels accounted for nearly all of the JoutK, in resting skeletal muscle in situ.Key words: sodium potassium chloride cotransporter, NKCC, Na+/K+-ATPase, potassium channels, potassium transport, in situ rat hindlimb.


2001 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Shtifman ◽  
Christopher W. Ward ◽  
Takeshi Yamamoto ◽  
Jianli Wang ◽  
Beth Olbinski ◽  
...  

DP4 is a 36-residue synthetic peptide that corresponds to the Leu2442-Pro2477 region of RyR1 that contains the reported malignant hyperthermia (MH) mutation site. It has been proposed that DP4 disrupts the normal interdomain interactions that stabilize the closed state of the Ca2+ release channel (Yamamoto, T., R. El-Hayek, and N. Ikemoto. 2000. J. Biol. Chem. 275:11618–11625). We have investigated the effects of DP4 on local SR Ca2+ release events (Ca2+ sparks) in saponin-permeabilized frog skeletal muscle fibers using laser scanning confocal microscopy (line-scan mode, 2 ms/line), as well as the effects of DP4 on frog SR vesicles and frog single RyR Ca2+ release channels reconstituted in planar lipid bilayers. DP4 caused a significant increase in Ca2+ spark frequency in muscle fibers. However, the mean values of the amplitude, rise time, spatial half width, and temporal half duration of the Ca2+ sparks, as well as the distribution of these parameters, remained essentially unchanged in the presence of DP4. Thus, DP4 increased the opening rate, but not the open time of the RyR Ca2+ release channel(s) generating the sparks. DP4 also increased [3H]ryanodine binding to SR vesicles isolated from frog and mammalian skeletal muscle, and increased the open probability of frog RyR Ca2+ release channels reconstituted in bilayers, without changing the amplitude of the current through those channels. However, unlike in Ca2+ spark experiments, DP4 produced a pronounced increase in the open time of channels in bilayers. The same peptide with an Arg17 to Cys17 replacement (DP4mut), which corresponds to the Arg2458-to-Cys2458 mutation in MH, did not produce a significant effect on RyR activation in muscle fibers, bilayers, or SR vesicles. Mg2+ dependence experiments conducted with permeabilized muscle fibers indicate that DP4 preferentially binds to partially Mg2+-free RyR(s), thus promoting channel opening and production of Ca2+ sparks.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document