title: Skinned muscle fibers of Aplysia: potentiation of contraction by "background" calcium and lack of effect of cyclic AMP.
abstract: 1. Aplysia buccal muscle E1 can be skinned with saponin in a low ionic strength medium. Pulses of calcium, which were ineffective at causing contraction in intact fibers, elicited contraction in skinned fibers. 2. Tension in skinned fibers increased at [Ca2+] greater than 10(-7) M and was maximal at 6 x 10(-7) M. 10(-5) M [Ca2+] caused irreversible damage to the fibers. 3. Fibers did not exhibit "catch", i.e. they relaxed quickly upon removal of calcium. 4. Optimal pH for tension was 7.0. 5. Contractile responses to calcium pulses were increased by raising "background" [Ca2+] to 10(-7) M. 6. Cyclic AMP (10(-4) and 10(-3) M) had no effect on tension.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Ram
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001048:Aplysia; D002118:Calcium / Q000502:physiology*; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000502:physiology*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009119:Muscle Contraction
chemical_list: D000242:Cyclic AMP; D002118:Calcium