Structural aspects of ion pumping by Ca2+-ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum

Cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) is a complex system of intracellular tubules that, due to their small size and juxtaposition to such electron-dense structures as mitochondria and myofibrils, are often inconspicuous in conventionally prepared electron microscopic material. This study reports a method with which the SR is selectively “stained” which facilitates visualizationwith the transmission electron microscope.

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Anchorfibers and the Topography of Junctional SR

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100080341 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 35 ◽

pp. 582-583

Author(s):

James Junker ◽

Joachim R. Sommer

Keyword(s):

Sarcoplasmic Reticulum ◽

Cardiac Muscle ◽

Single Filament ◽

Relaxation Cycle ◽

10 Nm Filaments ◽

Junctional Sarcoplasmic Reticulum

Junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum (JSR) in all its forms (extended JSR, JSR of couplings, corbular SR) in both skeletal and cardiac muscle is always located at the Z - I regions of the sarcomeres. The Z tubule is a tubule of the free SR (non-specialized SR) which is consistently located at the Z lines in cardiac muscle (1). Short connections between JSR and Z lines have been described (2), and bundles of filaments at Z lines have been seen in skeletal (3) and cardiac (4) muscle. In opossum cardiac muscle, we have seen bundles of 10 nm filaments stretching across interfibrillary spaces and adjacent myofibrils with extensions to the plasma- lemma in longitudinal (Fig. 1) and transverse (Fig. 2) sections. Only an occasional single filament is seen elsewhere along a sarcomere. We propose that these filaments represent anchor fibers that maintain the observed invariant topography of the free SR and JSR throughout the contraction-relaxation cycle.

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Ultra-Rapid Freezing of Isolated Skeletal Muscle Fibers

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100080316 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 35 ◽

pp. 576-577

Author(s):

Joachim R. Sommer ◽

Nancy R. Wallace

Keyword(s):

Skeletal Muscle ◽

Sarcoplasmic Reticulum ◽

Granular Material ◽

Nuclear Envelope ◽

Intracellular Calcium ◽

Ruthenium Red ◽

Threshold Concentration ◽

Rapid Freezing ◽

Frog Skeletal Muscle ◽

Electrical Isolation

After Howell (1) had shown that ruthenium red treatment of fixed frog skeletal muscle caused collapse of the intermediate cisternae of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), forming a pentalaminate structure by obi iterating the SR lumen, we demonstrated that the phenomenon involves the entire SR including the nuclear envelope and that it also occurs after treatment with other cations, including calcium (2,3,4).From these observations we have formulated a hypothesis which states that intracellular calcium taken up by the SR at the end of contraction causes the M rete to collapse at a certain threshold concentration as the first step in a subsequent centrifugal zippering of the free SR toward the junctional SR (JSR). This would cause a) bulk transport of SR contents, such as calcium and granular material (4) into the JSR and, b) electrical isolation of the free SR from the JSR.

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