title: Pharmacological studies of excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle.
abstract: The use of drugs in the study of excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling in skeletal muscle during the 25-30 years and the role of these studies in the development of the "trigger-calcium" hypothesis was reviewed. In early studies, caffeine was used as a tool to test the function of the intracellular contraction apparatus when the twitch or depolarization contracture was eliminated by a procedure that was thought to block the coupling part of the E-C coupling process. Later it was shown that caffeine produced contractures by releasing Ca2+ ions from intracellular binding sites and then that caffeine produced this effect by sensitizing the sarcoplasmic reticulum to Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release. More recently, organic calcium channel blocking drugs (verapamil, D-600, and nitrendipine) were used to confirm earlier results showing that depolarization contractures but not twitches require the entrance into the cells via the slow Ca2+ channels of extracellular calcium ions for E-C coupling. Most recently, we have investigated the effects of TMB-8 (8-(diethylamino)-octyl-3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoate) on E-C coupling in frog skeletal muscle. This compound was shown by other workers to act in several tissues by stabilizing Ca2+ bound at intracellular sites. It was found that at the appropriate concentration TMB-8 blocked twitches but neither high K+ nor caffeine induced contractures. These results suggest that TMB-8 blocks twitches by preventing the release of Ca2+ ions bound to the intracellular surface of the t-tubular membrane, which is often called the store of "trigger-calcium" ions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005707:Gallic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000502:physiology; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000187:drug effects*; D009132:Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D011188:Potassium / Q000494:pharmacology; D011894:Rana pipiens
chemical_list: D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D007473:Ion Channels; D002110:Caffeine; C006014:8-(N,N-diethylamino)octyl-3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoate; D005707:Gallic Acid; D011188:Potassium; D002118:Calcium