Epithelial disruption by proteases augments the responsiveness of porcine bronchial segments

1. The effect of disruption to the epithelium of intact porcine bronchi was examined by comparing the responsiveness to agonists applied to the adventitial and luminal surfaces. The development of smooth muscle tone was measured as an increase in pressure in an isovolumic bronchial segment of approximately 2 mm i.d. The reactivity and sensitivity to acetylcholine (ACh) introduced intraluminally was greatly attenuated when compared with adventitial addition. 2. Luminal exposure to K+ and vanadate (VO3-) had little effect compared with strong responses obtained by adventitial application. 3. Intraluminal exposure to trypsin, chymotrypsin and elastase (1 mg/mL) selectively augmented both the sensitivity and the reactivity to the luminal addition of ACh, K+ and carbachol. 4. Mechanical removal of the epithelium produced a 716-fold increase in sensitivity to ACh introduced luminally but had no effect on ACh applied adventitially. 5. The inhibitory effects of luminally introduced isoprenaline on electrical field stimulation responses were also significantly potentiated in segments stripped of epithelium. 6. The evidence presented here indicates that the responsiveness of in vitro airways segments is highly influenced by the epithelial layer, which acts most prominently as a barrier inhibiting the penetration of luminally introduced agonists.

Calponin and SM 22 isoforms in avian and mammalian smooth muscle. Absence of phosphorylation in vivo

Calponin is a basic smooth-muscle-specific protein capable of binding to F-actin, tropomyosin and calmodulin in vitro. Using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, we show that calponin exists as multiple isoelectric variants in avian and mammalian tissues. During chick embryogenesis, one isoform is expressed in gizzard that shows a pI identical to the most basic adult alpha variant; around 10 d after hatching multiple isoforms then appear. SM 22 [Pearlstone, J. R., Weber, M., Lees-Miller, J. P., Carpenter, M. R. & Smillie, L. B. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 5985-5991], which has sequence-motifs related to calponin, displays a similar isoform pattern during development; one isoform (alpha) is present in the embryo and three in the adult. In living smooth-muscle strips from chicken gizzard and guinea pig taenia coli, labelled with 32PO4, no phosphate incorporation could be detected in any of the calponin or SM 22 isoforms during either contraction or relaxation. From the additional observation that antibodies against phosphoserine also failed to label calponin and SM 22 in two-dimensional gel immunoblots, we conclude that the multiple isoforms do not arise via differential phosphorylation. These results support the claim [Barany, M., Rokolya, A. & Barany, K. (1991) FEBS Lett. 279, 65-68] that calponin phosphorylation is not involved in smooth muscle regulation in vivo, as has been suggested from in vitro studies [Winder, S. J. & Walsh, M. J. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265, 10148-10155]. In vitro translation of porcine and chicken smooth-muscle mRNA produced only a single (alpha) isoform of calponin, suggesting that the adult isoforms do not derive from multiple gene products; in the same assay two polypeptides appeared in the position of SM 22, one corresponding to the alpha isoform and a second more basic spot, not observed in tissue samples. Whereas calponin and SM 22 appear synchronously during smooth muscle differentiation in vivo, SM 22 is not fully down-regulated like calponin, metavinculin and heavy-caldesmon in smooth muscle cells in culture, pointing to a differential regulation of expression of the alpha SM 22 isoform during smooth-muscle phenotype modulation in vitro.

Activation of smooth muscle in the airway wall, force production, and airway narrowing

Airway narrowing depends on smooth muscle force production and muscle shortening, but the structural and geometric properties exhibited by individual generations of the bronchial tree largely determine the extent and characteristics of airway narrowing. Properties of major importance include the nature and integrity of the epithelium, the structural and mechanical properties of the airway wall, as well as airway diameter. The influence of these properties on airway narrowing measured as flow or flow resistance in large and small diameter segments of airways from pig lung is described using a novel preparation, the perfused bronchial segment.

Increased narrowing of bronchial segments from immature pigs

Bronchial narrowing was investigated to determine whether changes in smooth muscle force, described previously in different aged pigs, are associated with differences in airway narrowing. The sensitivity of bronchial segments from suckling and young pigs was compared by perfusion through the lumen with a Krebs solution at a pressure of 5 cmH2O, measuring the reduction in flow in response to carbachol and histamine. Segments of the same internal diameter (i.d. approx. 2.5 mm) from each age were used by selecting proximal segments from suckling and distal segments from young pigs. The sensitivity to carbachol or histamine was the same in smooth muscle strips from proximal and distal bronchi in each age. Furthermore, segments from either age had a similar pressure-volume relationship between -10 and 30 cmH2O. However, concentration-flow curves showed that the airways from sucklings were five times more sensitive than airways from young animals to carbachol (p less than 0.01) and, less consistently, to histamine (p greater than 0.05), when flow was reduced by 50% of maximum. Flow was abolished by maximum concentrations of carbachol at both ages whereas histamine stopped flow in the young segments and reduced it by 80% in the suckling age group. Data indicate a greater sensitivity of bronchial narrowing to carbachol in the intact airway--this is consistent with a greater force production in suckling pig airway smooth muscle. These findings support a postnatal development of airway function, as suggested from clinical observations and provocation studies in humans.

Increased narrowing of bronchial segments from immature pigs

Bronchial narrowing was investigated to determine whether changes in smooth muscle force, described previously in different aged pigs, are associated with differences in airway narrowing. The sensitivity of bronchial segments from suckling and young pigs was compared by perfusion through the lumen with a Krebs solution at a pressure of 5 cmH2O, measuring the reduction in flow in response to carbachol and histamine. Segments of the same internal diameter (i.d. approx. 2.5 mm) from each age were used by selecting proximal segments from suckling and distal segments from young pigs. The sensitivity to carbachol or histamine was the same in smooth muscle strips from proximal and distal bronchi in each age. Furthermore, segments from either age had a similar pressure-volume relationship between -10 and 30 cmH2O. However, concentration-flow curves showed that the airways from sucklings were five times more sensitive than airways from young animals to carbachol (p less than 0.01) and, less consistently, to histamine (p greater than 0.05), when flow was reduced by 50% of maximum. Flow was abolished by maximum concentrations of carbachol at both ages whereas histamine stopped flow in the young segments and reduced it by 80% in the suckling age group. Data indicate a greater sensitivity of bronchial narrowing to carbachol in the intact airway--this is consistent with a greater force production in suckling pig airway smooth muscle. These findings support a postnatal development of airway function, as suggested from clinical observations and provocation studies in humans.

Modulation by the epithelium of the extent of bronchial narrowing produced by substances perfused through the lumen

1 Airway narrowing was determined in vitro as a measure of bronchial reactivity. A bronchial segment from pig lung was perfused with a Krebs solution and the change in flow rate to drugs and small ions perfused intraluminally was compared with that obtained by application to the serosal surface. 2 The sensitivity (EC50) to acetylchloline was 30 times greater on the serosal surface than on the luminal surface. Concentrations of histamine and carbachol which had threshold responses on flow rate when perfused intraluminally virtually stopped flow on the serosal surface. Potassium depolarizing solutions (containing either KCl or K2SO4) and vanadate (VO3-) had little or no effect intraluminally but completely stopped flow through the bronchial segment when applied to the serosal surface, i.e. they closed off the airway. 3 After removal of the epithelium the sensitivity to drugs and K+ perfused intraluminally was increased to equal that on the serosal surface. 4 No evidence for suppression of smooth muscle contraction by a putative epithelium-derived inhibitory factor (EpDIF) could be obtained: no inhibition of smooth muscle contractility was seen when the agents listed above were perfused intraluminally and their perfusion continued while they were applied to outside. 5 It was concluded that the epithelium plays a crucial role as an impermeant barrier in modulating the responsiveness of the airways smooth muscle.

Inhibitory and excitatory responses to field stimulation in fetal and adult pig airway

The innervation in airway tissues from young adult (15-26 wk) and fetal (95/115 d gestation) pigs was compared in isolated tracheal and bronchial preparations subjected to electrical field stimulation. End-organ responsiveness to carbachol, substance P, isoprenaline, and VIP was present by 95 d gestation. Electrical field stimulation (0.5-20 Hz, 70 V, 0.5 ms) resulted in a frequency-dependent contraction that was blocked by atropine (10(-6) M) and TTX (10(-6) M) at both ages. However, there was a 10-fold increase in threshold in the fetal airways because contractions were evoked at frequencies of approximately 5 Hz in the fetus compared with 0.5 Hz in the young adult airways. In the young adult airways, there were atropine-resistant contractions at longer pulse durations (1-5 ms, 20 Hz), but not usually in the fetus. The atropine-resistant contractions were not blocked by TTX. Capsaicin (10(-6) M) produced no contraction in the pig airway. In tissues contracted using the ED50 of carbachol, electrical stimulation (1-20 Hz, 70 V, 1 ms) caused marked relaxation, however, compared with those in the young adult, fetal responses were weak or absent. Propranolol (10(-6) M) partially reduced the relaxation of the young adult bronchus (approximately 25%), but it had little effect on responses in the other young adult and fetal preparations. Therefore, the inhibitory innervation of pig airways was predominantly nonadrenergic and the excitatory component was cholinergic. Neither of these components was fully developed in the fetus close to term.

Different ratio of myosin heavy chain isoforms in arterial smooth muscle of spontaneously hypertensive rats

The relative proportion of the two putative heavy chains of smooth muscle myosin (MHC1 and MHC2) was determined in the caudal and femoral arteries of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive (WKY) rats at 16 weeks of age. The heavy chain polypeptides with Mr 204,000 and 200,000 were resolved electrophoretically under denaturing conditions in porous polyacrylamide gels. Both proteins reacted strongly with a monoclonal antibody (2C4) to smooth muscle MHC. In caudal arteries the ratio of MHC1/MHC2 was 3.1:1 in SHR rats compared with 1.8:1 in WKY rats (p less than 0.005) and similarly in femoral arteries, 2.8:1 vs 1.5:1 (p less than 0.001). In the portal vein there was no significant difference, 1.7:1 vs 1.5:1. The possibility that the higher MHC ratio in the SHR is the genetically mediated defect in arterial smooth muscle cells leading to the hypertension is discussed as an alternative to the elevated systemic blood pressure causing the altered MHC ratio.

Contraction of smooth muscle of pig airway tissues from before birth to maturity

Two heavy chains of smooth muscle myosin (MHC1 and MHC2) were identified in pig airways and parenchyma. The ratio of MHC1 to MHC2 was the same along the bronchial tree in animals of the same age, but it changed with age (mature, young, suckling, and fetus), ranging from 0.8 in the mature to 2.2 in the fetus. Stress developed in airway (trachea, bronchus, and bronchiole) and parenchymal preparations in response to carbachol and histamine (mN/mm2) was normalized for myosin content (N/mm2 myosin). Airways from sucklings always developed the greatest stress to carbachol and histamine with the rank order of maximum force (Emax) suckling greater than fetus greater than young greater than mature for carbachol in large airways. Airway ranking to histamine was similar except that Emax of fetal bronchus and bronchiole were least. In parenchymal strips, mature animals gave strong responses to carbachol and histamine compared with other age groups. Sensitivity to carbachol was increased in the suckling trachea; otherwise it did not vary with age. Chemically skinned tracheal fibers exhibited three- to fourfold greater sensitivity to Ca2+ in fetal and suckling airways compared with the older animals. It is concluded that maturation of smooth muscle occurs in the expression of myosin, in the Ca2(+)-force relationships of the contractile machinery, and in the pharmacological responsiveness of the intact smooth muscle, with the latter greatest at or soon after birth.

The role of epithelium in the responsiveness of the bronchi to stimuli

Airway narrowing in response to different modes of stimuli was measured using a perfused bronchial segment. Acetylcholine, carbachol, histamine, high [K+] and vanadate perfused through the lumen gave small responses as shown by the reduction in flow, but fully constricted the airway when applied to the outside. ACh was 29 times more sensitive on the outside. When the epithelium was removed airway narrowing by these stimuli was increased to equal that on the outside. It was concluded that the role of the epithelia as a barrier is all important. Evidence for an EpDIF released by the epithelium could not be obtained.

Airway diameter determines flow-resistance and sensitivity to contractile mediators in perfused bronchial segments

To study airway reactivity, flow-resistance to carbachol and histamine was measured in perfused bronchial segments. Small-bore airways were more sensitive, flow was reduced to zero and resistance rose very steeply due to mucosal folding while in large-bore airways maximum flow reduction was 50% and resistance increased sigmoidly. Thus the internal diameter of an airway is a crucial determinant of narrowing.

The relevance of pharmacological dose--response curves to airway narrowing

A defect in the smooth muscle of airways has been discarded as a possible cause of asthma in recent years because of the lack of correlation between airflow obstruction in patients and the contractile responsiveness of the isolated airway smooth muscle. Howard Mitchell and Malcolm Sparrow question the relevance of comparing parameters obtained from pharmacological dose-response curves (e.g. EC50) of strips of airways in vitro with those describing airways narrowing in vivo (e.g. resistance). They point out that in small airways the upper half of the dose-response curves seen in strips of airway wall is not represented in perfused tubular airway segments because they are fully constricted at or near the EC50 of the strip.

Perfused bronchial segment and bronchial strip: narrowing vs. isometric force by mediators

When bronchial segments were perfused with Krebs solution at a constant pressure (5-6 cmH2O), the resistance rose exponentially with increasing concentrations of either carbachol or histamine in the lumen. The pressure-flow relationship was linear. Histamine and carbachol caused 43 and 47% muscle shortening, respectively, and produced the same maximum effect (Emax) because they both stopped perfusion. In bronchial strips the maximum isometric force or isotonic shortening to carbachol was more than twice that of histamine and the responses showed a plateau. There were no significant differences in sensitivities [negative log of the concentration producing half-maximal response (EC50)] to either carbachol or histamine in the strips (isotonic and isometric) and the segments perfused at constant pressure. When airway segments were perfused at a constant flow, however, responses plateaued and the sensitivities to carbachol and histamine were reduced more than tenfold compared with the strips [4.71 +/- 0.20 and 6.22 +/- 0.08 (SE) for carbachol in segments and isometric strips, respectively, and 3.92 +/- 0.13 and 4.94 +/- 0.11 (SE) for histamine]. We conclude that when segments are perfused at a constant pressure, airway closure occurs before maximal pharmacological activation, as seen in airway strips.

The distribution of heavy-chain isoforms of myosin in airways smooth muscle from adult and neonate humans

Changes in the expression of heavy chains of myosin during development determine the functional characteristics of striated muscles. The distribution of heavy-chain isoforms of smooth-muscle myosin was determined in the airways of adult and infant humans to see whether it might underlie the hyperreactivity of human airways. The protein bands corresponding to myosin were separated using SDS/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis (4% gels) and identified by immunoblotting using both monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies against smooth-muscle myosin and non-muscle myosin. The relative proportion of each heavy chain stained by Coomassie Blue was measured by densitometric scanning. Three major bands corresponding to myosin heavy-chain isoforms were found; the two slower migrating bands (MHC1 and MHC2) were smooth-muscle myosin, and the third band was non-muscle myosin. The MHC1/MHC2 ratio was 0.69:1 in adult bronchus, and in infant bronchus and trachea. This contrasted with the airway smooth muscle in pigs, which was run concurrently, where the smooth-muscle heavy-chain ratio changed with development [Mohammad & Sparrow (1988) FEBS Lett. 228, 109-112]. The non-muscle myosin heavy chain comprised 63% of the smooth-muscle myosin. In both adult and infant lungs an additional putative myosin heavy chain which migrated slightly more rapidly than non-muscle myosin heavy chain was identified using the monoclonal smooth-muscle myosin antibody BF 48. This was unique to the human species.

Myosin composition and functional properties of smooth muscle from the uterus of pregnant and non-pregnant rats

The myosin heavy chain stoichiometry and the force-velocity relation have been determined in the myometrium of the non-pregnant and pregnant rat. The relative proportions of the slower migrating heavy chain (MHC1) greatly exceeded that of the faster migrating heavy chain (MHC2) as shown by electrophoresis on SDS 4%-polyacrylamide gels. The ratios of MHC1/MHC2 were 2.2/1 in the non-pregnant rats, 2.6/1 in the pregnant rat, and contrasted with 0.8/1 in the rat portal vein. This stoichiometry was unchanged by extracting the myosin from the smooth muscle as native myosin in a salt extract, as dissociated myosin using sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) or by isolating the native myosin first by a non-dissociating (pyrophosphate) electrophoresis step and subsequently analysing the protein bands on the SDS 4%-polyacrylamide gel. Although the unequal proportions of the heavy chains suggested the possibility that the native myosin molecule may be arranged as homodimeric heavy chains, no evidence for or against the existence of native myosin isoforms could be obtained by electrophoresing native myosin extracts on pyrophosphate-polyacrylamide gels. The force-velocity relations of the intact electrically stimulated myometrium from the non-pregnant and pregnant rats gave isometric force of 45 and 135 mN/mm2 and Vmax of 0.71 and 0.52 lengths/s (37 degrees C) when measured at 95% of optimal length, whereas in chemically skinned uterine strips at 22 degrees C Vmax was 0.09 and 0.13 lengths/s, respectively. The length-force relationship was of similar shape in the non-gravid and gravid skinned tissues. The energetic tension cost (ATP-turnover/active stress) in skinned fibres was also similar. The mechanical and metabolic characteristics of the gravid and non-gravid uterus found in the present study do not suggest an obvious difference in the intrinsic properties of the myosin, although significant functional alterations in the tissue appear during pregnancy. This corresponds to the lack of a difference in the pattern of the heavy chains.

Changes in myosin heavy chain stoichiometry in pig tracheal smooth muscle during development

The stoichiometry of the myosin heavy chains (MHCs) has been measured in the tracheal smooth muscle of the pig after electrophoresis on SDS 4% polyacrylamide gel. The ratio of slower migrating MHC to the faster migrating MHC was 2.1 neonates, 1.5 in young and 0.95 in old pigs (P less than 0.01) showing that MHC composition changes with development. The unequal proportion of MHCs was not compatible with a heterodimeric arrangement of the MHCs in the native molecule as proposed earlier by Rovner et al. [(1986) Am. J. Physiol. 250, C861-870] and it is suggested that native molecules may be composed of homodimer heavy chains.

The heavy-chain stoichiometry of smooth muscle myosin is a characteristic of smooth muscle tissues

The stoichiometry of the two heavy chains of myosin in smooth muscle was determined by electrophoresing extracts of native myosin and of dissociated myosin on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) 4%-polyacrylamide gels. The slower migrating heavy chain was 3.6 times more abundant in toad stomach, 2.3 in rabbit myometrium, 2.0 in rat femoral artery, 1.3 in guinea pig ileum, 0.93 in pig trachea and 0.69 in human bronchus, than the more rapidly migrating chain. Both heavy chains were identified as smooth muscle myosin by immunoblotting using antibodies to smooth muscle and non-muscle myosin. The unequal proportion of heavy chains suggested the possibility of native isoforms of myosin comprised of heavy-chain homodimers. To test this, native myosin extracts wer electrophoresed on non-dissociating (pyrophosphate) gels. When each band was individually analysed on SDS-polyacrylamide gel the slowest was found to be filamin and the other bands were myosin in which the relative proportion of the heavy chains was unchanged from that found in the original tissue extracts. Since this is incompatible with either a heterodimeric or a homodimeric arrangement it suggests that pyrophosphate gel electrophoresis is incapable of separating putative isoforms of native myosin.

Transient appearance of a fast myosin heavy chain epitope in slow-type muscle fibres during stretch hypertrophy of the anterior latissimus dorsi muscle in the adult chicken

Myosin expression during hypertrophy of the chicken anterior latissimus dorsi (ALD) muscle was investigated by immunocytochemical procedures using monoclonal antibodies to the fast and slow isoforms of the myosin heavy chain (myosin HC). Antifast antibody 1F9 bound to the adult fast HC of pectoralis muscle and cross-reacted with the HC found in early developing muscle. Antislow antibody 3D1 bound exclusively to the HC of slow myosin 2 (SM2). Stretch hypertrophy of the ALD was produced by attaching a weight to the wing; there was no evidence for a change in fibre number in the muscle. Between 4 and 6 days of stretch there appeared a dramatic increase in the number of fibres staining with the antifast antibody which reached a peak between 12 and 19 days. By this time between 28 and 52% of the fibres in the stretched ALD stained to varying degrees with the antifast antibody compared with much less than 1% in the unstretched control ALD. Most antifast-stained fibres in the stretched muscle also stained with the antislow antibody; the contralateral control muscle showed mostly antislow staining except for the very small number of strongly antifast-stained fibres. By 50 days in some birds and by 80 days in all birds antifast staining had returned to normal. Analysis of the isomyosin composition of the ALD by native gel electrophoresis did not reveal a significant increase in fast myosin content of the hypertrophied muscle even though immunocytochemical staining may have suggested otherwise.

Inhibition of cycling and noncycling cross bridges in skinned smooth muscle by vanadate

Vanadate (Vi, 3-300 microM) reversibly inhibited force development elicited by micromolar Ca2+ in membrane-skinned fibers of smooth muscle from taenia coli and trachea of guinea pig. When relaxed fibers were preincubated with Vi, the contraction to Ca2+ was characterized by a peak response followed by a lower steady-state phase. The peak phase depended on the rate of contraction and the [Vi]and was absent after Vi incubation during a previous contraction. These observations were consistent with Vi binding to a site that was exposed during the cross-bridge cycle but absent in the relaxed state. The actin X myosin X ADP intermediate formed at the active site during the cross-bridge cycle is suggested as the site of action of Vi. A weak antagonism between Pi and Vi was demonstrated during contractions activated by myosin thiophosphorylation. High concentrations of Pi (6-12 mM) were needed to produce a small inhibition (10%) of maximal Ca2+-activated tension. Skinned fibers relaxed slowly after Ca2+ removal, and the absence of an active state suggested that tension was maintained by noncycling cross bridges. Both Vi and Pi increased the rate of tension loss by 10-fold, but Vi was 5-10 times more potent than Pi. It is suggested that Vi and Pi both act on the active site but that Pi has a more efficacious action on slowly cycling than rapidly cycling cross bridges.

Effect of calmodulin, Ca2+, and cAMP protein kinase on skinned tracheal smooth muscle

The characteristics of contraction and relaxation of membrane skinned smooth muscle from guinea pig trachealis muscle are described. Micromolar Ca2+ elicited reproducible contractions in Mg-ATP salt solution at 20 degrees C. The speed of contraction was much faster at 30 and 37 degrees C, enabling cumulative concentration-response curves to be obtained. At these temperatures, a progressive increase in basal tension occurred in the absence of Ca2+. This tension was active and developed more rapidly at pH 6.7 than at pH 7.0. Calmodulin (0.1-10 microM) greatly increased the speed of contraction and lowered the threshold Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]) required to initiate contraction from 0.13 to 0.02 microM Ca2+. Trifluoperazine antagonized responses to Ca2+. Thiophosphorylation with adenosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) produced maximum tension development, which was Ca2+-independent. This effect was reversible. The results are compatible with myosin-linked regulation of contraction in which a Ca2+ X calmodulin complex activates myosin light chain kinase to phosphorylate myosin. The catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase strongly inhibited tension development and slowly relaxed fibers contracted with threshold [Ca2+] consistent with an action via phosphorylation of myosin light chain kinase. This effect was extremely slow compared with the rate of relaxation by Ca2+ withdrawal or with relaxation of intact smooth muscle by beta-adrenergic agonists.

Mechanism of vanadate-induced contraction of airways smooth muscle of the guinea-pig

The characteristics of vanadate-induced contraction of airways smooth muscle are described in isolated preparations of guinea-pig central and peripheral airways. Vanadate (1-1000 microM) induced sustained contractions of trachea and lung parenchymal strips within 1 min of challenge. It was more potent (P less than 0.001) on the lung strip (EC50 = 63 microM) than on the trachea (EC50 = 123 microM). The lung strip also developed greater maximum isometric tension (P less than 0.001) than the trachea. The efficacy on the lung strip was 2 and the trachea 0.6, relative to the response to acetylcholine (efficacy = 1). Vanadate-induced contractions of the trachea were not inhibited by atropine, mepyramine, phentolamine or indomethacin, nor after mast cell depletion by compound 48/80, showing that contractions were not mediated via specific receptors or by release of endogenous mediators of tone. Inorganic phosphate specifically inhibited vanadate responses in a dose-dependent and reversible manner, suggesting a common site of action. Contractions could be elicited in depolarized muscle and after treatment with ouabain plus propranolol, showing that membrane depolarization and inhibition of the Na, K-ATPase system were not involved in the contractile action of vanadate. Pretreatment of tracheal smooth muscle with verapamil had no influence on contractions elicited by vanadate. After removal of extracellular calcium, vanadate-induced contractions declined slowly with time, indicating that influx of extracellular calcium was not giving rise to contractions elicited by vanadate. Vanadate markedly increased the rate of calcium efflux from trachealis muscle loaded with 45Ca into both Ca2+-free and normal Krebs solutions; this is compatible with vanadate mobilizing an intracellular store of Ca2+. Such a store involving sites with Ca-ATPase activity would be consistent with the action of vanadate in isolated membrane preparations. Membrane-skinned tracheal fibres contracted by micromolar Ca2+ were relaxed by vanadate in a reversible dose-related manner, indicating that the contractile action of vanadate was not related to its interaction with proteins at the cross-bridge level.

Myofibrillar protein turnover. Synthesis of protein-bound 3-methylhistidine, actin, myosin heavy chain and aldolase in rat skeletal muscle in the fed and starved states

The turnover of 3-methylhistidine (N tau-methylhistidine) and in some cases actin, myosin heavy chain and aldolase in skeletal muscle was measured in a number of experiments in growing and adult rats in the fed and overnight-starved states. In growing fed rats in three separate experiments, measurements of the methylation rate of protein-bound 3-methylhistidine by either [14C]- or [3H]-methyl-labelled S-adenosylmethionine show that 3-methylhistidine synthesis is slower than the overall rate of protein synthesis indicated by [14C]tyrosine incorporation. Values ranged from 36 to 51%. However, in one experiment with rapidly growing young fed rats, acute measurements over 1 h showed that 3-methylhistidine synthesis could be increased to the same rate as the overall rate. After overnight starvation in these rats, the steady-state synthesis rate of 3-methylhistidine was 38.8% of the overall rate. This was a similar value to that in adult non-growing rats, in which measurements of the relative labelling of 3-methylhistidine and histidine after a single injection of [14C]histidine indicated that 3-methylhistidine synthesis was 37% of the overall rate in the fed or overnight-starved state. According to measurements of actin, myosin heavy-chain and aldolase synthesis in the over-night-starved state with young rats, with a variety of precursors, slow turnover of 3-methylhistidine results from the specific slow turnover of actin, since turnover rates of myosin heavy chain, mixed protein and aldolase were 2.5, 3 and 3.4 times faster respectively. However, in the fed state synthesis rates of actin were increased disproportionately to give similar rates for all proteins. These results show that (a) 3-methylhistidine turnover in muscle is less than half the overall rate in both young and adult rats, (b) slow 3-methylhistidine turnover reflects the specifically slow turnover of actin compared with myosin heavy chain and other muscle proteins, and (c) during growth the synthesis rate of actin is particularly sensitive to the nutritional state and can be increased to a similar rate to that of other proteins.

Increased protein synthesis and degradation in the dog heart during thyroxine administration

Mongrel dogs were injected with 1-thyroxine (0.5 mg/kg body weight) for 7 or 14 days and fractional synthesis rates of total, sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar protein were measured in the left ventricle using continuous intravenous infusion of [14C]tyrosine. The synthesis rate of total protein was increased from 7.2% to 9.2% per day and 10.9% per day after 7 and 14 days respectively. The normally lower synthesis rate of myofibrillar protein was stimulated proportionately more than that of sarcoplasmic protein, increasing from 6.0% to 11.7% per day over 14 days, while that of sarcoplasmic protein increased from 10.3% to 13.1% per day. There was a significant increase in left ventricular RNA concentration and decrease in collagen, concentration. Left ventricular weight/body weight was 17% greater than normal after 7 days but the lack of further change in the second week suggests that, after the early development of hypertrophy, protein degradation was also increased, along with the markedly increased synthesis rate.

Regression of skeletal muscle of chicken wing after stretch-induced hypertrophy

Regression of stretch-induced growth of the anterior latissimus dorsi muscle of the adult fowl was characterized by measuring weight, protein, RNA, DNA, and collagen content. After 7 days of hypertrophy the total amount of protein, RNA, DNA, and collagen increased by 59, 228, 82, and 23%, respectively, above the control contralateral muscle. On removal of the stimulus, regression back to normal weight and composition was complete in 13 days except for total DNA content, which was still elevated 21% after 29 days of regression. After 28 days of hypertrophy, the total amount of protein, RNA, DNA, and collagen were 100, 126, 96, and 27%, respectively, greater than controls. On removal of the stimulus regression was again rapid, but reversal of the hypertrophy was not complete 35 days later with the total protein and RNA still elevated by 16-22% and the total DNA 35% above control level. The increase in the total collagen during hypertrophy was attributable to about equal increases in both the epimysial collagen and the internal collagen of the muscle. The study shows that reversal of hypertrophy can occur almost as rapidly as the hypertrophy process. RNA and protein are lost more rapidly than DNA.

Collagen synthesis and content in right ventricular hypertrophy in the dog

The fractional synthesis rate of collagen (the percent of total ventricular collagen synthesized in one day) was measured in the hearts of normal dogs and those with pulmonary artery stenosis using a continuous 6-h intravenous infusion of [14C]proline. The fractional synthesis rate in normal ventricles was slow, 0.56%/day, and it increased eightfold to 4.8%/day in the hypertrophying right ventricle after 5 days. After 12 and 28 days the synthesis rate was still significantly greater than in the control left ventricle, being 2.6 and 1.3%/day, respectively. However, the synthesis rate of noncollagen protein was significantly greater than normal at 5 days only. The collagen content (expressed as a mass fraction) of the right ventricle decreased over the first 12 days of hypertrophy but by 28 days was restored to the normal right ventricular value of 9.6 mg/g wet wt tissue. The total amount of collagen in the hypertrophied ventricle calculated from the synthesis rates was in accord with that measured chemically. In normal dogs the collage content of the right ventricle was greater than that of the left, and the epicardium contributed substantially to the total collagen in the ventricular walls.