scholarly journals Involvement of TRPC in the abnormal calcium influx observed in dystrophic (mdx) mouse skeletal muscle fibers

2002 ◽  
Vol 158 (6) ◽  
pp. 1089-1096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarisse Vandebrouck ◽  
Dominique Martin ◽  
Monique Colson-Van Schoor ◽  
Huguette Debaix ◽  
Philippe Gailly

Duchenne muscular dystrophy results from the lack of dystrophin, a cytoskeletal protein associated with the inner surface membrane, in skeletal muscle. The absence of dystrophin induces an abnormal increase of sarcolemmal calcium influx through cationic channels in adult skeletal muscle fibers from dystrophic (mdx) mice. We observed that the activity of these channels was increased after depletion of the stores of calcium with thapsigargin or caffeine. By analogy with the situation observed in nonexcitable cells, we therefore hypothesized that these store-operated channels could belong to the transient receptor potential channel (TRPC) family. We measured the expression of TRPC isoforms in normal and mdx adult skeletal muscles fibers, and among the seven known isoforms, five were detected (TRPC1, 2, 3, 4, and 6) by RT-PCR. Western blot analysis and immunocytochemistry of normal and mdx muscle fibers demonstrated the localization of TRPC1, 4, and 6 proteins at the plasma membrane. Therefore, an antisense strategy was used to repress these TRPC isoforms. In parallel with the repression of the TRPCs, we observed that the occurrence of calcium leak channels was decreased to one tenth of its control value (patch-clamp technique), showing the involvement of TRPC in the abnormal calcium influx observed in dystrophic fibers.

2001 ◽  
Vol 155 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yewei Liu ◽  
Zoltán Cseresnyés ◽  
William R. Randall ◽  
Martin F. Schneider

TTranscription factor nuclear factor of activated T cells NFATc (NFATc1, NFAT2) may contribute to slow-twitch skeletal muscle fiber type–specific gene expression. Green fluorescence protein (GFP) or FLAG fusion proteins of either wild-type or constitutively active mutant NFATc [NFATc(S→A)] were expressed in cultured adult mouse skeletal muscle fibers from flexor digitorum brevis (predominantly fast-twitch). Unstimulated fibers expressing NFATc(S→A) exhibited a distinct intranuclear pattern of NFATc foci. In unstimulated fibers expressing NFATc–GFP, fluorescence was localized at the sarcomeric z-lines and absent from nuclei. Electrical stimulation using activity patterns typical of slow-twitch muscle, either continuously at 10 Hz or in 5-s trains at 10 Hz every 50 s, caused cyclosporin A–sensitive appearance of fluorescent foci of NFATc–GFP in all nuclei. Fluorescence of nuclear foci increased during the first hour of stimulation and then remained constant during a second hour of stimulation. Kinase inhibitors and ionomycin caused appearance of nuclear foci of NFATc–GFP without electrical stimulation. Nuclear translocation of NFATc–GFP did not occur with either continuous 1 Hz stimulation or with the fast-twitch fiber activity pattern of 0.1-s trains at 50 Hz every 50 s. The stimulation pattern–dependent nuclear translocation of NFATc demonstrated here could thus contribute to fast-twitch to slow-twitch fiber type transformation.


1972 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Vaughan ◽  
J. N. Howell ◽  
R. S. Eisenberg

The capacitance of skeletal muscle fibers was measured by recording with one microelectrode the voltage produced by a rectangular pulse of current applied with another microelectrode. The ionic strength of the bathing solution was varied by isosmotic replacement of NaCl with sucrose, the [K] [Cl] product being held constant. The capacitance decreased with decreasing ionic strength, reaching a value of some 2 µF/cm2 in solutions of 30 mM ionic strength, and not decreasing further in solutions of 15 mM ionic strength. The capacitance of glycerol-treated fibers did not change with ionic strength and was also some 2 µF/cm2. It seems likely that lowering the ionic strength reduces the capacitance of the tubular system (defined as the charge stored in the tubular system), and that the 2 µF/cm2 which is insensitive to ionic strength is associated with the surface membrane. The tubular system is open to the external solution in low ionic strength solutions since peroxidase is able to diffuse into the lumen of the tubules. Twitches and action potentials were also recorded from fibers in low ionic strength solutions, even though the capacitance of the tubular system was very small in these solutions. This finding can be explained if there is an action potential—like mechanism in the tubular membrane.


1982 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
J A Heiny ◽  
J Vergara

Absorbance signals were recorded from cut single skeletal muscle fibers stained with the nonpenetrating potentiometric dye NK2367 and mounted in a three-vaseline-gap voltage clamp. The characteristics of the optical signals recorded under current and voltage-clamp conditions were studied at various wavelengths between 500 and 800 nm using unpolarized light. Our results indicate that the absorbance signals recorded with this dye reflect potential changes across both the surface and T system membranes and that the relative contribution of each of these membrane compartments to the total optical change is strongly wavelength dependent. A peak intensity change was detected at 720 nm for the surface membrane signal and at 670 nm for the T system. Evidence for this wavelength-dependent separation derives from an analysis of the kinetics and voltage dependence of the optical signals at different wavelengths, and results obtained in detubulated fibers. The 670-nm optical signal was used to demonstrate the lack of potential control in the T system by the voltage clamp and the effect of a tetrodotoxin (TTX)-sensitive sodium conductance on tubular depolarization.


2008 ◽  
Vol 295 (1) ◽  
pp. C146-C150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Ng ◽  
Joseph M. Metzger ◽  
Dennis R. Claflin ◽  
John A. Faulkner

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a genetic disease caused by the lack of the protein dystrophin. Dystrophic muscles are highly susceptible to contraction-induced injury, and following contractile activity, have disrupted plasma membranes that allow leakage of calcium ions into muscle fibers. Because of the direct relationship between increased intracellular calcium concentration and muscle dysfunction, therapeutic outcomes may be achieved through the identification and restriction of calcium influx pathways. Our purpose was to determine the contribution of sarcolemmal lesions to the force deficits caused by contraction-induced injury in dystrophic skeletal muscles. Using isolated lumbrical muscles from dystrophic ( mdx) mice, we demonstrate for the first time that poloxamer 188 (P188), a membrane-sealing poloxamer, is effective in reducing the force deficit in a whole mdx skeletal muscle. A reduction in force deficit was also observed in mdx muscles that were exposed to a calcium-free environment. These results, coupled with previous observations of calcium entry into mdx muscle fibers during a similar contraction protocol, support the interpretation that extracellular calcium enters through sarcolemmal lesions and contributes to the force deficit observed in mdx muscles. The results provide a basis for potential therapeutic strategies directed at membrane stabilization of dystrophin-deficient skeletal muscle fibers.


1999 ◽  
Vol 144 (6) ◽  
pp. 1259-1270 ◽  
Author(s):  
McRae W. Williams ◽  
Robert J. Bloch

We used immunofluorescence techniques and confocal imaging to study the organization of the membrane skeleton of skeletal muscle fibers of mdx mice, which lack dystrophin. β-Spectrin is normally found at the sarcolemma in costameres, a rectilinear array of longitudinal strands and elements overlying Z and M lines. However, in the skeletal muscle of mdx mice, β-spectrin tends to be absent from the sarcolemma over M lines and the longitudinal strands may be disrupted or missing. Other proteins of the membrane and associated cytoskeleton, including syntrophin, β-dystroglycan, vinculin, and Na,K-ATPase are also concentrated in costameres, in control myofibers, and mdx muscle. They also distribute into the same altered sarcolemmal arrays that contain β-spectrin. Utrophin, which is expressed in mdx muscle, also codistributes with β-spectrin at the mutant sarcolemma. By contrast, the distribution of structural and intracellular membrane proteins, including α-actinin, the Ca-ATPase and dihydropyridine receptors, is not affected, even at sites close to the sarcolemma. Our results suggest that in myofibers of the mdx mouse, the membrane- associated cytoskeleton, but not the nearby myoplasm, undergoes widespread coordinated changes in organization. These changes may contribute to the fragility of the sarcolemma of dystrophic muscle.


2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 1570-1582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiansheng Shen ◽  
Yewei Liu ◽  
Zoltán Cseresnyés ◽  
Arie Hawkins ◽  
William R. Randall ◽  
...  

The transcription factor NFATc1 may be involved in slow skeletal muscle gene expression. NFATc1 translocates from cytoplasm to nuclei during slow fiber type electrical stimulation of skeletal muscle fibers because of activation of the Ca2+-dependent phosphatase calcineurin, resulting in nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT) dephosphorylation and consequent exposure of its nuclear localization signal. Here, we find that unstimulated adult skeletal muscle fibers exhibit a previously unanticipated nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of NFATc1 without appreciable nuclear accumulation. In resting fibers, the nuclear export inhibitor leptomycin B caused nuclear accumulation of NFATc1 (but not of isoform NFATc3) and formation of NFATc1 intranuclear bodies independent of calcineurin. The rate of nuclear uptake of NFATc1 was 4.6 times lower in resting fibers exposed to leptomycin B than during electrical stimulation. Inhibitors of glycogen synthase kinase and protein kinase A or of casein kinase 1 slowed the decay of nuclear NFATc1 after electrical stimulation, but they did not cause NFATc1 nuclear uptake in unstimulated fibers. We propose that two nuclear translocation pathways, one pathway mediated by calcineurin activation and NFAT dephosphorylation and the other pathway independent of calcineurin and possibly independent of NFAT dephosphorylation, determine the distribution of NFATc1 between cytoplasm and nuclei in adult skeletal muscle.


2010 ◽  
Vol 299 (1) ◽  
pp. C42-C50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua N. Edwards ◽  
Oliver Friedrich ◽  
Tanya R. Cully ◽  
Frederic von Wegner ◽  
Robyn M. Murphy ◽  
...  

Store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) is an important mechanism in virtually all cells. In adult skeletal muscle, this mechanism is highly specialized for the rapid delivery of Ca2+ from the transverse tubule into the junctional cleft during periods of depleting Ca2+ release. In dystrophic muscle fibers, SOCE may be a source of Ca2+ overload, leading to cell necrosis. However, this possibility is yet to be examined in an adult fiber during Ca2+ release. To examine this, Ca2+ in the tubular system and cytoplasm were simultaneously imaged during direct release of Ca2+ from sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) in skeletal muscle fibers from healthy (wild-type, WT) and dystrophic mdx mouse. The mdx fibers were found to have normal activation and deactivation properties of SOCE. However, a depression of the cytoplasmic Ca2+ transient in mdx compared with WT fibers was observed, as was a shift in the SOCE activation and deactivation thresholds to higher SR Ca2+ concentrations ([Ca2+]SR). The shift in SOCE activation and deactivation thresholds was accompanied by an approximately threefold increase in STIM1 and Orai1 proteins in dystrophic muscle. While the mdx fibers can introduce more Ca2+ into the fiber for an equivalent depletion of [Ca2+]SR via SOCE, it remains unclear whether this is deleterious.


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