scholarly journals Slowing of velocity during isotonic shortening in single isolated smooth muscle cells. Evidence for an internal load.

1990 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 581-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
D E Harris ◽  
D M Warshaw

In single smooth muscle cells, shortening velocity slows continuously during the course of an isotonic (fixed force) contraction (Warshaw, D.M. 1987. J. Gen. Physiol. 89:771-789). To distinguish among several possible explanations for this slowing, single smooth muscle cells were isolated from the gastric muscularis of the toad (Bufo marinus) and attached to an ultrasensitive force transducer and a length displacement device. Cells were stimulated electrically and produced maximum stress of 144 mN/mm2. Cell force was then reduced to and maintained at preset fractions of maximum, and cell shortening was allowed to occur. Cell stiffness, a measure of relative numbers of attached crossbridges, was measured during isotonic shortening by imposing 50-Hz sinusoidal force oscillations. Continuous slowing of shortening velocity was observed during isotonic shortening at all force levels. This slowing was not related to the time after the onset of stimulation or due to reduced isometric force generating capacity. Stiffness did not change significantly over the course of an isotonic shortening response, suggesting that the observed slowing was not the result of reduced numbers of cycling crossbridges. Furthermore, isotonic shortening velocity was better described as a function of the extent of shortening than as a function of the time after the onset of the release. Therefore, we propose that slowing during isotonic shortening in single isolated smooth muscle cells is the result of an internal load that opposes shortening and increases as cell length decreases.

1987 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 771-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
D M Warshaw

The relationship between force and shortening velocity (F:V) in muscle is believed to reflect both the mechanics of the myosin cross-bridge and the kinetics of its interaction with actin. To date, the F:V for smooth muscle cells has been inferred from F:V data obtained in multicellular tissue preparations. Therefore, to determine F:V in an intact single smooth muscle cell, cells were isolated from the toad (Bufo marinus) stomach muscularis and attached to a force transducer and length displacement device. Cells were electrically stimulated at 20 degrees C and generated 143 mN/mm2 of active force per muscle cross-sectional area. At the peak of contraction, cells were subjected to sudden changes in force (dF = 0.10-0.90 Fmax) and then maintained at the new force level. The force change resulted in a length response in which the cell length (Lcell) rapidly decreased during the force step and then decreased monotonically with a time constant between 75 and 600 ms. The initial length change that coincided with the force step was analyzed and an active cellular compliance of 1.9% cell length was estimated. The maintained force and resultant shortening velocity (V) were fitted to the Hill hyperbola with constants a/Fmax of 0.268 and b of 0.163 Lcell/s. Vmax was also determined by a procedure in which the cell length was slackened and the time of unloaded shortening was recorded (slack test). From the slack test, Vmax was estimated as 0.583 Lcell/s, in agreement with the F:V data. The F:V data were analyzed within the framework of the Huxley model (Huxley. 1957. Progress in Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry. 7:255-318) for contraction and interpreted to indicate that in smooth muscle, as compared with fast striated muscle, there may exist a greater percentage of attached force-generating cross-bridges.


2002 ◽  
Vol 282 (5) ◽  
pp. H1656-H1664 ◽  
Author(s):  
William B. Campbell ◽  
Christine Deeter ◽  
Kathryn M. Gauthier ◽  
Richard H. Ingraham ◽  
J. R. Falck ◽  
...  

Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) cause vascular relaxation by activating smooth muscle large conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (KCa) channels. EETs are metabolized to dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acids (DHETs) by epoxide hydrolase. We examined the contribution of 14,15-DHET to 14,15-EET-induced relaxations and characterized its mechanism of action. 14,15-DHET relaxed U-46619-precontracted bovine coronary artery rings but was approximately fivefold less potent than 14,15-EET. The relaxations were inhibited by charybdotoxin, iberiotoxin, and increasing extracellular K+ to 20 mM. In isolated smooth muscle cells, 14,15-DHET increased an iberiotoxin-sensitive, outward K+ current and increased KCa channel activity in cell-attached patches and inside-out patches only when GTP was present. 14,15-[14C]EET methyl ester (Me) was converted to 14,15-[14C]DHET-Me, 14,15-[14C]DHET, and 14,15-[14C]EET by coronary arterial rings and endothelial cells but not by smooth muscle cells. The metabolism to 14,15-DHET was inhibited by the epoxide hydrolase inhibitors 4-phenylchalcone oxide (4-PCO) and BIRD-0826. Neither inhibitor altered relaxations to acetylcholine, whereas relaxations to 14,15-EET-Me were increased slightly by BIRD-0826 but not by 4-PCO. 14,15-DHET relaxes coronary arteries through activation of KCa channels. Endothelial cells, but not smooth muscle cells, convert EETs to DHETs, and this conversion results in a loss of vasodilator activity.


1997 ◽  
Vol 273 (4) ◽  
pp. C1259-C1266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel P. Meer ◽  
Thomas J. Eddinger

The functional significance of the variable expression of the smooth muscle myosin heavy chain (SM-MHC) tail isoforms, SM1 and SM2, was examined at the mRNA level (which correlates with the protein level) in individual permeabilized rabbit arterial smooth muscle cells (SMCs). The length of untethered single permeabilized SMCs was monitored during unloaded shortening in response to increased Ca2+ (pCa 6.0), histamine (1 μM), and phenylephrine (1 μM). Subsequent to contraction, the relative expression of SM1 and SM2 mRNAs from the same individual SMCs was determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction amplification and densitometric analysis. Correlational analyses between the SM2-to-SM1 ratio and unloaded shortening in saponin- and α-toxin-permeabilized SMCs ( n = 28) reveal no significant relationship between the SM-MHC tail isoform ratio and unloaded shortening velocity. The best correlations between SM2/SM1 and the contraction characteristics of untethered vascular SMCs were with the minimum length attained following contraction ( n = 20 and r = 0.72 for α-toxin, n = 8 and r = 0.78 for saponin). These results suggest that the primary effect of variable expression of the SM1 and SM2 SM-MHC tail isoforms is on the cell final length and not on shortening velocity.


1996 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Natsuko Toguchi ◽  
Mitsuo Mita ◽  
Masaatsu K. Uchida ◽  
Takao Hashimoto

1986 ◽  
Vol 251 (4) ◽  
pp. G546-G552 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Collins ◽  
D. J. Crankshaw

We examined changes in [3H]QNB binding and cell length induced by muscarinic ligands in a suspension of single smooth muscle cells isolated from the canine stomach. Cells contracted following a brief (30 s) exposure to picomolar concentrations of muscarinic agonists and yielded ED50 values of 1.0 +/- 0.7 pM for oxotremorine, 12.5 +/- 1.8 pM for carbachol, and 16.0 +/- 2.9 pM for metacholine. Contraction was inhibited by atropine with a pA2 value of 10.2 +/- 1.1. The binding of [3H]QNB was rapid and reversible and was stereospecific and pharmacologically appropriate. Specific binding of [3H]QNB was saturable and bound with high affinity (KD 1.04 +/- 0.23 nM) to a single class of sites, of which there were approximately 200,000/cell. In competition experiments antagonist binding was generally homogeneous, whereas that of agonists was heterogeneous and subpopulations of binding sites with different affinities for agonists were identified. The Ki value of 8.1 +/- 1.1 nM for inhibition of QNB binding by atropine was greater than the pA2 of 10.2 +/- 1.1 derived from contraction studies. Furthermore, whereas picomolar concentrations of agonists induced cell contraction, substantially higher concentrations (10 nM to 10 mM) were required to inhibit [3H]QNB binding to the isolated cells.


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