title: Inactivation of Ca2+ transients in amphibian and mammalian muscle fibres.
abstract: MagFluo-4 fluorescence (Ca2+) transients associated with action potentials were measured in intact muscle fibres, manually dissected from toads ( Leptodactylus insularis ) or enzymatically dissociated from mice. In toads, the decay phase of the Ca2+ transients is described by a single exponential with a time constant ( tau ) of about 7 ms. In mice, a double exponential function with tau 's of 1.5 and 15.5 ms, respectively gives a better fit. In both species the amplitude of Ca2+ transients diminished during repetitive stimulation: in amphibian muscle fibres, the decrease was about 20% with 1 Hz stimulation and 55% at 10 Hz. In mammalian fibres, repetitive stimulation causes a less conspicuous decrease of the transient amplitude: 10% at 1 Hz and 15% at 10 Hz. During tetanic stimulation at 100 Hz the transient amplitude decays to 20% in toad fibres and 40% in mouse fibres. This decrease could be associated with the phenomenon of inactivation of Ca2+ release, described by other authors. Recovery from inactivation, studied by a double stimuli protocol also indicates that in toad fibres the ability to release Ca2+ is abolished to a greater extent than in mouse fibres. In fact the ratio between the amplitudes of the second and first transient, when they are separated by a 10 ms interval, is 0.29 for toad and 0.58 for mouse fibres. In toad fibres, recovery from inactivation, to about 80 % of the initial value, occurs with a tau of 32 ms at 22 degrees C; while in mouse fibres recovery from inactivation is almost complete and occurs with a tau of 36 ms under the same conditions. The results indicate that Ca2+ release in enzymatically dissociated mammalian muscle fibres inactivates to a smaller extent than in intact amphibian muscle fibres.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Biofisica y Bioquimica, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas IVIC, Apartado 21827, Caracas, Venezuela. ccaputo@cbb.ivic.ve
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caputo
authors.forename: Pura
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bolaños
authors.forename: Adom
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura; D002118:Calcium / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D051379:Mice; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D002118:Calcium