Robert E. Godt

Influence of osmotic compression on calcium activation and tension in skinned muscle fibers of the rabbit

AbstractSingle skinned muscle fibers were osmotically compressed back to and below their in situ size by addition of a large, random-coil polymer (Deytran T500;n

A NOVEL ROLE FOR CARDIAC NEURAL CREST IN HEART DEVELOPMENT

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Inhibition of force production in compressed skinned muscle fibers of the frog

n= 180,000;n

Equilibrium distribution of ions in a muscle fiber

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The effect of 2,3-butanedione 2-monoxime (BDM) on ventricular trabeculae from the avian heart.

n = 461,000) to the bathing medium. Maximal Ca2+-activated tension in fibers swollen (zero Dextran, fiber width 21% above in situ) or near in situ size (5% Dextran, in g/100 ml final solution) was similar, but compression to 86% of in situ width with 10% Dextran decreased maximal force by 15% relative to polymer-free control. While the relative tension-pCa relation in 0 and 10% Dextran was similar, with a pCa of 6.37 required for 50% activation, that in 5% Dextran was more sensitive to Ca2+, with a pCa50 of 6.66. We feel these effects are most likely due to changes in interfilament spacing with compression and that alterations in Ca2+-sensitivity might be explained by changes in cross-bridge angle or in the concomitant attachment-detachment rate constants which would be expected to influence the troponin-Ca2+ binding equilibrium, as has been proposed by others.

Calcium Buffering and Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Developing Avian Myocardium

Frog skeletal muscle fibers, mechanically skinned under water-saturated silicone oil, swell upon transfer to aqueous relaxing medium (60 mM KCl; 3 mM MgCl(2); 3 mM ATP; 4 mM EGTA; 20 mM Tris maleate; pH = 7.0; ionic strength 0.15 M). Their cross-sectional areas, estimated with an elliptical approximation, increase 2.32-fold (+/-0.54 SD). Sarcomere spacing is unaffected by this swelling. Addition of 200 mM sucrose to relaxing medium had no effect on fiber dimensions, whereas decreasing pH to 5.0 caused fibers to shrink nearly to their original (oil) size. Decreasing MgCl(2) to 0.3 mM caused fibers to swell 10%, and increasing MgCl(2) to 9 mM led to an 8% shrinkage. Increasing ionic strength to 0.29 M with KCl caused a 26% increase in cross-sectional area; decreasing ionic strength to 0.09 M had no effect. Swelling pressure was estimated with long-chain polymers, which are probably excluded from the myofilament lattice. Shrinkage in dextran T10 (number average mol wt 6,200) was transient, indicating that this polymer may penetrate into the fibers. Shrinkage in dextran T40 (number average mol wt 28,000), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) K30 (number average mol wt 40,000) and dextran T70 (number average mol wt 40,300) was not transient, indicating exclusion. Maximal calcium-activated tension is decreased by 21% in PVP solutions and by 31% in dextran T40 solutions. Fibers were shrunk to their original size with 8 x 10(-2) g/cm(3) PVP K30, a concentration which, from osmometric data, corresponds to an osmotic pressure (II/RT) of 10.5 mM. As discussed in the text, we consider this our best estimate of the swelling pressure. We find that increasing ionic strength to 0.39 M with KCl decreases swelling pressure slightly, whereas decreasing ionic strength to 0.09 M has no effect. We feel these data are consistent with the idea that swelling arises from the negatively charged nature of the myofilaments, from either mutual filamentary repulsion or a Donnan-osmotic mechanism.