Abstract
Contractile responses to 4-chloro-m-cresol (4-CmC) were tested in saponin- and Triton X-100-skinned fibers from soleus and edl (extensor digitorum longus) muscles of adult rats and compared with those to caffeine. The testing of different concentrations of 4-CmC on saponin-skinned fibers showed that 4-CmC induced a dose-dependent caffeine-like transient contractile response in edl and soleus due to an activation of the ryanodine receptor. Both types of skeletal muscles showed a 10 to 20 times lower 4-CmC threshold concentration and EC50 value (concentration providing 50% of the maximal 4-CmC contracture) than for caffeine. The results indicate that edl is more sensitive than soleus to 4-CmC and that this difference in sensitivity is more marked than with caffeine. Furthermore, an increase in cytosolic Ca2+ activity induced a more marked shift of dose-response curves toward lower concentrations for 4-CmC than caffeine. Experiments conducted on Triton X-100-skinned fibers showed that in both muscles, 4-CmC decreased in a dose-dependent manner the Ca2+-activated force of contractile apparatus, particularly in edl. Furthermore, the tension pCa curves indicated that 4-CmC induced a dose-dependent sensitizing (soleus) or desensitizing (edl) effect on the Ca2+ sensitivity of myofibrils. These results indicate that edl and soleus contractile responses can be discriminated with 4-CmC instead of caffeine and that care must be taken in interpreting results because muscular pathology could be due in part to an increase in intracellular Ca2+.
Footnotes
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Send reprint requests to: Dr. Stéphanie Choisy, Laboratoire de Physiologie Générale, CNRS EP 1593, Faculté des Sciences et des Techniques de Nantes, 2 rue de la Houssinière, BP 92208, 44322 Nantes Cedex 3, France. E-mail:stchoisy{at}yahoo.com
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↵1 We are grateful to the Foundation Langlois and the Center National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) for funding this study. This work was performed as part of the Ph.D. requirements of S. Choisy.
- Abbreviations:
- edl
- extensor digitorum longus
- 4-CmC
- 4-chloro-m-cresol
- RyR
- ryanodine receptor
- Received January 29, 2000.
- Accepted May 26, 2000.
- The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
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