scholarly journals The voltage sensor of excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle. Ion dependence and selectivity.

1989 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Pizarro ◽  
R Fitts ◽  
I Uribe ◽  
E Ríos

Manifestations of excitation-contraction (EC) coupling of skeletal muscle were studied in the presence of metal ions of the alkaline and alkaline-earth groups in the extracellular medium. Single cut fibers of frog skeletal muscle were voltage clamped in a double Vaseline gap apparatus, and intramembrane charge movement and myoplasmic Ca2+ transients were simultaneously measured. In metal-free extracellular media both charge movement of the charge 1 type and Ca transients were suppressed. Under metal-free conditions the nonlinear charge distribution was the same in depolarized (holding potential of 0 mV) and normally polarized fibers (holding potentials between -80 and -90 mV). The manifestations of EC coupling recovered when ions of groups Ia and IIa of the periodic table were included in the extracellular solution; the extent of recovery depended on the ion species. These results are consistent with the idea that the voltage sensor of EC coupling has a binding site for metal cations--the "priming" site--that is essential for function. A state model of the voltage sensor in which metal ligands bind preferentially to the priming site when the sensor is in noninactivated states accounts for the results. This theory was used to derive the relative affinities of the various ions for the priming site from the magnitude of the EC coupling response. The selectivity sequence thus constructed is: Ca greater than Sr greater than Mg greater than Ba for group IIa cations and Li greater than Na greater than K greater than Rb greater than Cs for group Ia. Ca2+, the most effective of all ions tested, was 1,500-fold more effective than Na+. This selectivity sequence is qualitatively and quantitatively similar to that of the intrapore binding sites of the L-type cardiac Ca channel. This provides further evidence of molecular similarity between the voltage sensor and Ca channels.

1991 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Szücs ◽  
Z Papp ◽  
L Csernoch ◽  
L Kovács

Intramembrane charge movement was measured on skeletal muscle fibers of the frog in a single Vaseline-gap voltage clamp. Charge movements determined both under polarized conditions (holding potential, VH = -100 mV; Qmax = 30.4 +/- 4.7 nC/micro(F), V = -44.4 mV, k = 14.1 mV; charge 1) and in depolarized states (VH = 0 mV; Qmax = 50.0 +/- 6.7 nC/micro(F), V = -109.1 mV, k = 26.6 mV; charge 2) had properties as reported earlier. Linear capacitance (LC) of the polarized fibers was increased by 8.8 +/- 4.0% compared with that of the depolarized fibers. Using control pulses measured under depolarized conditions to calculate charge 1, a minor change in the voltage dependence (to V = -44.6 mV and k = 14.5 mV) and a small increase in the maximal charge (to Qmax = 31.4 +/- 5.5 nC/micro(F] were observed. While in most cases charge 1 transients seemed to decay with a single exponential time course, charge 2 currents showed a characteristic biexponential behavior at membrane potentials between -90 and -180 mV. The voltage dependence of the rate constant of the slower component was fitted with a simple constant field diffusion model (alpha m = 28.7 s-1, V = -124.0 mV, and k = 15.6 mV). The midpoint voltage (V) was similar to that obtained from the Q-V fit of charge 2, while the steepness factor (k) resembled that of charge 1. This slow component could also be isolated using a stepped OFF protocol; that is, by hyperpolarizing the membrane to -190 mV for 200 ms and then coming back to 0 mV in two steps. The faster component was identified as an ionic current insensitive to 20 mM Co2+ but blocked by large hyperpolarizing pulses. These findings are consistent with the model implying that charge 1 and the slower component of charge 2 interconvert when the holding potential is changed. They also explain the difference previously found when comparing the steepness factors of the voltage dependence of charge 1 and charge 2.


Nature ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 279 (5712) ◽  
pp. 391-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Kovács ◽  
E. Ríos ◽  
M. F. Schneider

2015 ◽  
Vol 146 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Beqollari ◽  
Christin F. Romberg ◽  
Dilyana Filipova ◽  
Ulises Meza ◽  
Symeon Papadopoulos ◽  
...  

In skeletal muscle, excitation–contraction (EC) coupling requires depolarization-induced conformational rearrangements in L-type Ca2+ channel (CaV1.1) to be communicated to the type 1 ryanodine-sensitive Ca2+ release channel (RYR1) of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) via transient protein–protein interactions. Although the molecular mechanism that underlies conformational coupling between CaV1.1 and RYR1 has been investigated intensely for more than 25 years, the question of whether such signaling occurs via a direct interaction between the principal, voltage-sensing α1S subunit of CaV1.1 and RYR1 or through an intermediary protein persists. A substantial body of evidence supports the idea that the auxiliary β1a subunit of CaV1.1 is a conduit for this intermolecular communication. However, a direct role for β1a has been difficult to test because β1a serves two other functions that are prerequisite for conformational coupling between CaV1.1 and RYR1. Specifically, β1a promotes efficient membrane expression of CaV1.1 and facilitates the tetradic ultrastructural arrangement of CaV1.1 channels within plasma membrane–SR junctions. In this paper, we demonstrate that overexpression of the RGK protein Rem, an established β subunit–interacting protein, in adult mouse flexor digitorum brevis fibers markedly reduces voltage-induced myoplasmic Ca2+ transients without greatly affecting CaV1.1 targeting, intramembrane gating charge movement, or releasable SR Ca2+ store content. In contrast, a β1a-binding–deficient Rem triple mutant (R200A/L227A/H229A) has little effect on myoplasmic Ca2+ release in response to membrane depolarization. Thus, Rem effectively uncouples the voltage sensors of CaV1.1 from RYR1-mediated SR Ca2+ release via its ability to interact with β1a. Our findings reveal Rem-expressing adult muscle as an experimental system that may prove useful in the definition of the precise role of the β1a subunit in skeletal-type EC coupling.


1993 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Ríos ◽  
M Karhanek ◽  
J Ma ◽  
A González

A contact interaction is proposed to exist between the voltage sensor of the transverse tubular membrane of skeletal muscle and the calcium release channel of the sarcoplasmic reticulum. This interaction is given a quantitative formulation inspired in the Monod, Wyman, and Changeux model of allosteric transitions in hemoglobin (Monod, J., J. Wyman, and J.-P. Changeux. 1965. Journal of Molecular Biology. 12:88-118), and analogous to one proposed by Marks and Jones for voltage-dependent Ca channels (Marks, T. N., and S. W. Jones. 1992. Journal of General Physiology. 99:367-390). The allosteric protein is the calcium release channel, a homotetramer, with two accessible states, closed and open. The kinetics and equilibrium of this transition are modulated by voltage sensors (dihydropyridine receptors) pictured as four units per release channel, each undergoing independent voltage-driven transitions between two states (resting and activating). For each voltage sensor that moves to the activating state, the tendency of the channel to open increases by an equal (large) factor. The equilibrium and kinetic equations of the model are solved and shown to reproduce well a number of experimentally measured relationships including: charge movement (Q) vs. voltage, open probability of the release channel (Po) vs. voltage, the transfer function relationship Po vs. Q, and the kinetics of charge movement, release activation, and deactivation. The main consequence of the assumption of allosteric coupling is that primary effects on the release channel are transmitted backward to the voltage sensor and give secondary effects. Thus, the model reproduces well the effects of perchlorate, described in the two previous articles, under the assumption that the primary effect is to increase the intrinsic tendency of the release channel to open, with no direct effects on the voltage sensor. This modification of the open-closed equilibrium of the release channel causes a shift in the equilibrium dependency of charge movement with voltage. The paradoxical slowing of charge movement by perchlorate also results from reciprocal effects of the channel on the allosterically coupled voltage sensors. The observations of the previous articles plus the simulations in this article constitute functional evidence of allosteric transmission.


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