Sodium entry in rat diaphragm induced by depolarizing drugs

Na+-K+ pump stimulation restores carbacholine-induced loss of excitability and contractility in rat skeletal muscle

Intense exercise results in increases in intracellular Na+ and extracellular K+ concentrations, leading to depolarization and a loss of muscle excitability and contractility. Here, we use carbacholine to chronically activate the nicotinic acetylcholine (nACh) receptors to mimic the changes in membrane permeability, chemical Na+ and K+ gradients and membrane potential observed during intense exercise. Intact rat soleus muscles were mounted on force transducers and stimulated electrically to evoke short tetani at regular intervals. Carbacholine produced a 2.6-fold increase in Na+ influx that was tetrodotoxin (TTX) insensitive, but abolished by tubocurarine, resulting in a significant 36% increase in intracellular Na+, and 8% decrease in intracellular K+ content. The mid region, near the motor end plate, had much larger alterations than the more distal regions of the muscle, and showed a larger membrane depolarization from -73 +/- 1 to -60 +/- 1 mV compared with -64 +/- 1 mV. Carbacholine (10(-4) M) significantly reduced tetanic force to 31 +/- 3% of controls, which underwent significant recovery upon application of Na+-K+ pump stimulators: salbutamol (10(-5) M), adrenaline (10(-5) M) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP; 10(-7) M). The force recovery with salbutamol was accompanied by a recovery of intracellular Na+ and K+ contents, and a small but significant 4-5 mV recovery of membrane potential. Similar results were obtained using succinylcholine (10(-4) M), indicating that Na+-K+ pump stimulation may prevent or restore succinylcholine-induced hyperkalaemia. The stimulation of the Na+-K+ pump allows muscle to partially recover contractility by regaining excitability through electrogenically driven repolarization of the muscle membrane.

Electrophysiological characterization of a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor on leech neuropile glial cells

Ion-selective double-barrelled microelectrodes were used to measure the activities of intracellular K+, Na+, Cl-, and H+ (aiK, aiNa, aiCl, pHi) and membrane potential (Em) in neuropile glial cells as well as extracellular K+ activity (aeK) in the neuropile of the leech, Hirudo medicinalis, during bath application of carbachol. As measured with conventional single-barrelled microelectrodes, acetylcholine (ACh), nicotine, carbachol, tetramethylammonium (TMA), and choline elicited concentration-dependent (10(-6)-5 X 10(-3) M) transient membrane depolarizations of up to 60 mV amplitude whereas muscarine (10(-6)-10(-3) M) did not affect Em. alpha-Bungarotoxin (10(-7) M), decamethonium (10(-5) M), d-tubocurarine (5 X 10(-5) M), and strychnine (5 X 10(-5) M) blocked the carbachol depolarization by about 90%. Atropine (5 X 10(-5) M) blocked the response by about 75%, whereas hexamethonium was only effective at millimolar concentrations. Average baseline levels of aeK in the neuropile and of aiK, aiNa, and aiCl in the neuropile glial cells were about 3, 70, 10, and 7 mM, respectively. During the carbachol depolarization aeK and aiNa transiently increased, whereas aiK decreased. In contrast, a rise of aiK and a fall of aiNa were observed during glial depolarizations in solutions with elevated K+ concentration. aiCl increased during both the carbachol- and the K+-induced depolarization. During carbachol, pHi transiently fell by about 0.2 units from its average baseline level of 6.9, whereas an alkalinization of small amplitude was observed in high-K+ solutions. Bath-applied choline, TMA, and decamethonium rapidly accumulated in the neuropile glial cells as intracellularly monitored with double-barrelled microelectrodes filled with Corning K+ exchanger resin, which is highly selective for these agents. The results suggest that leech neuropile glial cells have a nicotinic ACh receptor coupled to a cation channel. It is hypothesized that this channel might also be permeable to choline, TMA, and decamethonium.

The role of the sodium pump during prolonged end-plate currents in guinea-pig diaphragm

1. Depolarization caused by carbachol or decamethonium is followed by spontaneous recovery of membrane potential in the presence of the drug. The involvement of the Na pump in this recovery has been investigated in guinea-pig diaphragm at 37 degrees C. 2. Restoration of potassium ions (K+) to the bathing solution gives a rapid recovery of membrane potential which is compatible with a component of recovery of potential being attributable to an electrogenic ion pump and from which a Na pump current of over 60 nA has been estimated. 3. The maintenance of membrane potential in the presence of depolarizing drugs is interpreted in terms of a residual rate of channel opening at a time when the membrane potential is restored, balanced by Na pump action producing tubular depletion of K+. To account for these results a Na pump conductance has been added to a model circuit of drug action. 4. The peak end-plate current produced by carbachol (80 microM) is 100 nA (n = 11) as recorded by the voltage clamp technique; similar estimates may be obtained from measurements of input resistance which falls to 31% of the initial value (n = 5). In muscles desensitized by carbachol for 30 min the end-plate current is 11 nA. 5. In normal muscle removal of K+ from the bathing solution produces a reversible hyperpolarization. In muscles where the membrane potential has recovered in the continued presence of the drug, a hyperpolarization is also found on removal of K+. Withdrawal of K+ during the early stage of spontaneous recovery of potential produces a depolarization or an arrest of the spontaneous repolarization. These results are interpreted in terms of the Na pump producing different effects during the course of spontaneous repolarization. 6. Indirect evidence for K+ depletion in the transverse tubules by the Na pump is provided by an increased resistance to inward current following brief exposure to carbachol or decamethonium. A similar mechanism is used to interpret both the observed change in end-plate revérsal potential to a more negative value and the marked diminution in the amplitude of the action potential at the end-plate during drug action.

Calcium accumulation precedes the degenerative effects of L-glutamate on locust muscle fibres

Agonist-induced degeneration of locust muscle occurs only when desensitization of the excitatory glutamate receptors present on this tissue is inhibited. It has been suggested that an increase in intracellular Ca2+ is responsible for this degeneration. To test this proposal the accumulation of 45Ca by locusts muscle has been studied under various conditions, including those under which receptor desensitization was inhibited. Retractor unguis muscles from the metathoracic leg of locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) were used in these studies. All muscles exposed to L-glutamate exhibited an early increase in intracellular radioactivity but this was 2-3 times greater in muscle pretreated with concanavalin A (Con A) to block receptor desensitization. In the desensitizing system the increase in muscle radioactivity was not maintained, intracellular Ca2+-levels declining to control values after 30 min in 45Ca-saline-containing glutamate. In Con A-treated muscles intracellular Ca2+-levels plateaued well above control levels within 5 min of exposure to glutamate and were maintained at these levels throughout the period of glutamate treatment. These results support the contention that agonist-induced degeneration of locust muscle is triggered by entry of Ca2+ and a rise in intracellular concentration of this cation to a toxic level.

Spontaneous recovery from depolarizing drugs in rat diaphragm

1. The end-plate region in surface fibres of rat diaphragm was located by the use of polarizing filters. 2. Carbachol (100 microM) produced depolarization at the end-plate to -55 mV, as shown by continuous recording, with some indication of spontaneous recovery in the presence of the drug. The miniature end-plate potentials disappeared and remained absent. 3. By repeated sampling it was found that the resting potential at the end-plate had largely recovered after 45 min in the presence of carbachol. Individual fibres showed much variation in the rate of recovery, and in some fibres the repolarization was rapid. 4. In the absence of K, carbachol produced depolarization at the end-plate without significant recovery, as shown by repeated sampling. 5. When muscles were exposed to ouabain (100 microM) in addition to carbachol the end-plate remained depolarized without recovery for 60 min. The effect of ouabain was reversible: withdrawal of ouabain (in the presence of carbachol) led to substantial recovery. 6. Suberyldicholine (100 microM) gave results which were similar to those produced by carbachol. 7. It was inferred that the spontaneous recovery of membrane potential in the presence of carbachol and of suberyldicholine is a process which is sensitive to K and to ouabain.

End-plate channel opening and the kinetics of quinacrine (mepacrine) block

1. The effects of quinacrine on the relaxation of the agonist-induced currents in response to a voltage step were investigated at voltage clamped frog end-plates. A fast perfusion technique allowed the application of known concentrations of the agonist acetylcholine (ACh) or carbachol to end-plate viewed with Nomarski optics. 2. In the presence of quinacrine, and in response to a hyperpolarizing voltage jump, an agonist-induced current shows a fast initial relaxational increase and then relaxes slowly back to a new equilibrium level. 3. The slow relaxation can be described by a single exponential with a time constant tau s . tau s gets smaller at increasing quinacrine concentrations (0--2 microM) and the decay rate constant, 1/tau s, increases linearly with quinacrine concentration. Increasing agonist concentration reduces tau s, in a manner dependent on the nature of the agonist. Tau s is markedly lengthened at more hyperpolarized potential, but this voltage effect gets less at higher concentrations of agonist. 4. These data suggest a slow voltage dependent blockage of open end-plate channels by quinacrine. The binding rate constant of quinacrine is estimated as 10(8) M-1 s-1, and the voltage dependent, backward rate constant, as 5 s-1 at -60 mV and 1 s-1 at -140 mV. These values are in fair agreement with those obtained from the analysis presented in the preceding paper. 5. The agonist concentration dependence of the blocking kinetics is compatible with a simple model for channel opening. In this model, independent sequential binding of two agonist molecules leads to an isomerization of the receptor. The intrinsic binding constant of ACh is estimated to be around 20 microM, and for carbachol around 200 microM. Distinct isomerization constants could lead to a maximal activation of 70% of the available channels by ACh, and only 40% by carbachol. 6. An example of a possible interaction in between quinacrine block and desensitization is shown. At the break of an hyperpolarizing jump which has increased quinacrine blockade, a transient increase in the synaptic current is observed with apparently a temporary reduction of the desensitization.

Agonist-induced myopathy at the neuromuscular junction is mediated by calcium

Inactivation of cholinesterases at mammalian neuromuscular junctions (nmj) produces extensive muscle "necrosis." Fine-structurally, this myopathy begins near the nmj with an increase in large-diameter vesicles in the soleplasm, the dissolution of Z-disks, dilation of mitochondria, destruction of sarcoplasmic reticulum, and often a highly specific contracture of the muscle under the endplate. Since a Ca++-activated protease which specifically removes Z-disks is known to exist in mammalian skeletal muscle, we tested the possibility that the myopathy after esterase inactivation is due to the prolongation of acetylcholine lifetime and thus of Ca++ influx. We first produced the myopathy near endplates by inactivating esterases with diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP) followed by nerve stimulation for 1--2 h in vitro. The myopathy was later mimicked by bath application of carbamylcholine without esterase inhibitors. This myopathy could be prevented by inactivating the acetylcholine receptors (AChR) with alpha-bungarotoxin (alpha-BGT) or by removing Ca++ from the bath with EGTA. These results favor the hypothesis that esterase inhibition leads to an agonist-induced myopathy, which is mediated by Ca++ and requires an intact AChR.