Effect of External Calcium and other Divalent Cations on K+ Contractures in Denervated Slow Skeletal Muscle Fibers of the Frog (original) (raw)

Journal of Biomedical and Allied Research

Abstract

The influence of Ca2+ and other divalent cations on contractile responses of slow skeletal muscle fibers of the frog (Rana pipiens) under conditions of chronic denervation was investigated.Isometric tension was recorded from slow bundles of normal and denervated cruralis muscle in normal solution and in solutions with free calcium concentration solution or in solutions where other divalent cations (Sr2+, Ni2+, Co2+ or Mn2+) substituted for calcium. In the second week after nerve section, in Ca2+-free solutions, we observed that contractures (evoked from 40 to 80 mM-K+) of non-denervated muscles showed significantly higher tensions (p<0.05), than those from denervated bundles. Likewise, in solutions where calcium was substituted by all divalent cations tested, with exception of Mn2+, the denervated bundles displayed lower tension than non-denervated, also in the second week of denervation. In this case, the Ca2+ substitution by Sr2+ caused the higher decrease in tension, followed ...

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