Localization of calcium pump activity in smooth muscle

A microsomal fraction isolated from longitudinal smooth muscle of guinea pig ileum actively sequesters calcium ion in the presence of magnesium and adenosine triphosphate in a fashion previously described for microsomes of the rabbit aorta. This activity in guinea pig ileum appears to be associated primarily with the plasma membrane as is found in the red cell. By contrast the uptake of calcium in aortic smooth muscle appears to be associated to an appreciable extent with intracellular membranes, possibly analogous to the sarcoplasmic reticulum of skeletal muscle.     

Regulation of calcium release is gated by calcium current, not gating charge, in cardiac myocytes

In skeletal muscle, intramembrane charge movement initiates the processes that lead to the release of calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. In cardiac muscle, in contrast, the similarity of the voltage dependence of developed tension and intracellular calcium transients to that of calcium current suggests that the calcium current may gate the release of calcium. Nevertheless, a mechanism similar to that of skeletal muscle continues to be postulated for cardiac muscle. By using rapid exchange (20 to 50 milliseconds) of the extracellular solutions in rat ventricular myocytes in which the intracellular calcium transients or cell shortening were measured, it has now been shown that the influx of calcium through the calcium channel is a mandatory link in the processes that couple membrane depolarization to the release of calcium. Thus, intramembrane charge movement does not contribute to the release of calcium in heart muscle.     

Effect of membrane potential changes on the calcium transient in single rat cardiac muscle cells

The mechanism that links membrane potential changes to the release of calcium from internal stores to cause contraction of cardiac cells is unclear. By using the calcium indicator fura-2 under voltage-clamp conditions, changes in intracellular calcium could be monitored in single rat ventricular cells while controlling membrane potential. The voltage dependence of the depolarization-induced increase in intracellular calcium was not the same as that of the calcium current (Isi), which suggests that only a small fraction of Isi is required to trigger calcium release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. In addition, sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium release may be partly regulated by membrane potential, since repolarization could terminate the rise in intracellular calcium. Thus, changes in the action potential will have immediate effects on the time course of the calcium transient beyond those associated with its effects on Isi.     

Calcium absorption and calcium-binding protein synthesis: solanum malacoxylon reverses strontium inhibition

The ingestion of diets containing high concentrations of stable strontium inhibits calcium absorption and intestinal calcium-binding protein synthesis and, as shown by others, does so by inhibiting the conversion of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol to 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol, the active form of vitamin D. The addition of the South American plant Solanum malacoxylon to strontium-containing diets counteracts the inhibitory action of dietary strontium, thereby indicating that the plant contains a factor which can mimic the action of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol and representing the first such factor identified in a botanical source.     

Stop-transfer regions do not halt translocation of proteins into chloroplasts

Protein targeting in eukaryotic cells is determined by several topogenic signals. Among these are stop-transfer regions, which halt translocation of proteins across the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. Two different stop-transfer regions were incorporated into precursors for a chloroplast protein, the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase. Both chimeric proteins were imported into chloroplasts and did not accumulate in the envelope membranes. Thus, the stop-transfer signals did not function during chloroplast protein import. These observations support the hypothesis that the mechanism for translocation of proteins across the chloroplast envelope is significantly different from that for translocation across the endoplasmic reticulum membrane.     

Regenerative calcium release within muscle cells

Free calcium appears to trigger the release of stored calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum of skinned skeletal muscle fibers immersed in solutions with a low concentration of magnesium ion.     

Ryanodine receptor of skeletal muscle is a gap junction-type channel

In the sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane of skeletal muscle, the ryanodine receptor forms an aqueous pore identified as the calcium-release pathway that operates during excitation-contraction coupling. The purified ryanodine receptor channel has now been shown to have four properties usually associated with gap junction channels: (i) a large nonspecific voltage-dependent conductance consisting of several open states; (ii) an inhibition of open probability by low pH; (iii) an inhibition of open probability by calcium; and (iv) a sensitivity to blockade by heptanol and octanol but not other alcohols. This functional homology may provide an insight into the mechanism of how muscle cells transduce depolarization into an intracellular release of calcium.     

Voltage-independent calcium release in heart muscle

The Ca2+ that activates contraction in heart muscle is regulated as in skeletal muscle by processes that depend on voltage and intracellular Ca2+ and involve a positive feedback system. How the initial electrical signal is amplified in heart muscle has remained controversial, however. Analogous protein structures from skeletal muscle and heart muscle have been identified physiologically and sequenced; these include the Ca2+ channel of the sarcolemma and the Ca2+ release channel of the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Although the parallels found in cardiac and skeletal muscles have provoked valuable experiments in both tissues, separation of the effects of voltage and intracellular Ca2+ on sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release in heart muscle has been imperfect. With the use of caged Ca2+ and flash photolysis in voltage-clamped heart myocytes, effects of membrane potential in heart muscle cells on Ca2+ release from intracellular stores have been studied. Unlike the response in skeletal muscle, voltage across the sarcolemma of heart muscle does not affect the release of Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum, suggesting that other regulatory processes are needed to control Ca2(+)-induced Ca2+ release.     

Calcium ion release in mechanically disrupted heart cells

In cardiac muscle fibers which have had their sarcolemma disrupted intracellular stores of calcium ions can be released by the same chemical stimuli which cause their release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum of skinned skeletal muscle fibers. These stimuli are increases in calcium or caffeine concentrations and substitution of chloride for propionate or sodium for potassium in solutions bathing the fibers.     

Sodium current-induced release of calcium from cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum

The role of sodium-calcium exchange at the sarcolemma in the release of calcium from cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum was investigated in voltage-clamped, isolated cardiac myocytes. In the absence of calcium entry through voltage-dependent calcium channels, membrane depolarization elicited release of calcium from ryanodine-sensitive internal stores. This process was dependent on sodium entry through tetrodotoxin-sensitive sodium channels. Calcium release under these conditions was also dependent on extracellular calcium concentration, suggesting a calcium-induced trigger release mechanism that involves calcium entry into the cell by sodium-calcium exchange. This sodium current-induced calcium release mechanism may explain, in part, the positive inotropic effects of cardiac glycosides and the negative inotropic effects of a variety of antiarrhythmic drugs that interact with cardiac sodium channels. In response to a transient rise of intracellular sodium, sodium-calcium exchange may promote calcium entry into cardiac cells and trigger sarcoplasmic calcium release during physiologic action potentials.     

Intracellular impulse conduction in muscle cells

A hypothesis, suggested previously by morphological studies, for impulse conduction from the sarcolemma to the contractile material via the sarcoplasmic reticulum is discussed. The relation of reticulum morphology and cell size to speed of contraction in smooth and striated muscle agrees with the hypothesis and thus supports it. Additional support comes from evidence concerning an unusual morphological relationship between the sarcolemma and contractile fibrils in striated muscle of amphioxus.     

白藜芦醇对HA-VSMC细胞膜电位和钙离子的影响

[目的]研究白藜芦醇对人主动脉血管平滑肌细胞(T/G HA-VSMC)膜电位和游离钙浓度的影响。[方法]用荧光染料DiBAC4(3)和Fluo-3-AM分别标记细胞,在流式细胞仪上分别测定细胞膜电位及胞内游离钙浓度的变化。[结果]给予Res后,HA-VSMC膜电位去极化,胞内游离钙浓度升高。[结论]Res可去极化HA-VSMC细胞膜电位,促进钙内流。     

Cytosolic-free calcium transients in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells: microfluorometric measurements

Microfluorometric recordings were made of changes in the concentration of cytosolic-free calcium in cultured rat vascular smooth muscle cells treated with quin 2, an intracellularly trapped dye, under several conditions. Nitroglycerin decreased calcium in both the presence and absence of extracellular calcium and strongly and progressively decreased the extent of transient increases in calcium induced by repeated applications of caffeine in the absence of extracellular calcium. Therefore nitroglycerin probably decreases cytosolic-free calcium by accelerating the extrusion of calcium through the sarcolemmal membrane.     

骨骼肌兴奋收缩偶联潜伏期肌浆网内Ca~(2 )变化的研究——细胞化学法及X-射线能量色散谱微区分析

报道了采用红外探测－计算机控制的超低温快速冷冻固定技术、Ｘ－射线能量色散谱微区定量分析及Ｃａ２＋细胞化学技术对骨骼肌收缩潜伏期时肌浆网内的Ｃａ２＋进行了分析,从超微结构形态学的角度对骨骼肌兴奋－收缩偶联发生时,肌浆网内Ｃａ２＋的作用进行了研究,这对揭示骨骼肌兴奋－收缩偶联时,肌浆网内Ｃａ２＋的释放机理研究有重要意义。     

拳参-413对大鼠离体胸主动脉环的舒张作用机制研究

[目的]研究拳参-413对大鼠离体胸主动脉血管的舒张作用机制。[方法]采用离体血管环灌流方法观察拳参-413在含Ca+或无Ca+的Krebs液孵育条件下对去甲肾上腺素(NA)引起的血管平滑肌收缩的影响,考察拳参-413舒张血管作用的时间依赖性,并观察拳参-413对浓度40和80 mmol/L的KCl引起的血管平滑肌收缩的影响。[结果]拳参-413能舒张NA引起的血管收缩,且呈浓度依赖性;拳参-413(100μmol/L)在30 min达到最大舒张效应;无Ca+组拳参-413抑制NA所致血管平滑肌收缩效应大于含Ca+组;拳参-413对浓度40和80 mmol/L的KCl引起的血管平滑肌收缩均有抑制作用,且两者量效曲线明显上移。[结论]拳参-413可舒张血管平滑肌,其作用机制可能与该药促进NO合成释放,开放钙激活的钾通道以及抑制血管平滑肌细胞外钙内流和内钙释放有关。     

Uncoupling translocation from translation: implications for transport of proteins across membranes

The segregation of secretory proteins into the cisternae of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is normally tightly coupled to their synthesis. This feature distinguishes their biogenesis from that of proteins targeted to many other organelles. In the examples presented, translocation across the ER membrane is dissociated from translation. Transport, which is normally cotranslational, may proceed in the absence of chain elongation. Moreover, translocation across the ER membrane does not proceed spontaneously since, even in the absence of protein synthesis, energy substrates are required for translocation. These conclusions have been extended to the cotranslational integration of newly synthesized transmembrane proteins.     

Microbodies (peroxisomes) containing catalase in myocardium: morphological and biochemical evidence

Microbodies characterized by a single limiting membrane and finely granular matrix occur in mouse myocardium and appear in close spatial relation to mitochondria and sarcoplasmic reticulum. The presence of catalase in the microbodies is revealed cytochemically and confirmed biochemically by direct measurement of its activity in myocardial tissue fractions. It is suggested that the microbodies may play an important role in myocardial lipid metabolism.     

Calcium dependence of the inactivation of calcium currents in skeletal muscle fibers of an insect

Calcium currents in skeletal muscle fibers of an insect, Carausius morosus, inactivate under depolarization. This inactivation depends on the current being carried across the membrane by calcium ions, rather than strontium or bariumions.     

褐菖鲉发声肌中小清蛋白的特性及肌肉纤维的超微结构特性

通过对褐菖鲉发声系统的研究,尤其是发声肌形态、小清蛋白含量和肌纤维超微结构等特征,发现褐菖鲉发声肌和白色肌肉中小清蛋白分子量均为10~14 ku。在白色肌肉肌纤维显微结构中,三联体(一个T小管+两个肌质网终池)仅处于Z膜,而在发声肌纤维中,三联体不仅在Z膜处,也在A带与I带交联处。与白色肌相比,发声肌超微结构中的肌质网更宽,肌膜更发达。在发声肌细胞中,线粒体多且聚集;而白肌细胞中,线粒体相对少且分散。结果显示:在褐菖鲉发声肌的快速收缩中,小清蛋白可能没有起重要作用,而是发达的肌膜、三联体和肌质网结构确保了该特殊肌肉快速收缩和放松的发声功能与行为,同时,大量聚集的线粒体保证其发声肌的持续工作能力。     

Deimos encounter by viking: preliminary imaging results

Recent close flybys of Deimos by Viking revealed a smooth-appearing surface void of grooves. Higher-resolution pictures showed that the surface was actually covered with craters but that a regolith filled the smaller craters, giving the smooth appearance. The surface was also covered with boulders and bright streak-like markings analogous to base-surge or ejecta cloud deposits.