Effects of ischemia on sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ uptake and Ca2+ release in rat skeletal muscle

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the hypothesis that prolonged ischemia would impair both sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ uptake and Ca2+ release in skeletal muscle. To induce total ischemia (I), a tourniquet was placed around the upper hindlimb in 30 female Sprague-Dawley rats [wt = 256 ± 6.7 (SE) g] and inflated to 350 mmHg for 4 h. The contralateral limb served as control (C). Immediately after the 4 h of ischemia, mixed gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior muscle was sampled from both limbs, and both crude muscle homogenates and SR vesicles were prepared. In another 10 control animals (CC), muscles were sampled and prepared exactly the same way, but immediately after anesthetization. Ca2+ uptake and Ca2+ release were measured in vitro with Indo-I on both homogenates and SR vesicles. As hypothesized, submaximal Ca2+ uptake was lower ( P < 0.05) in I compared with CC and C, by 25 and 45% in homogenates and SR vesicles, respectively. Silver nitrate (AgNO3)-induced Ca2+ release, which occurred in two phases ( phase 1 and phase 2), was also altered in I compared with CC and C, in both muscle homogenates and SR vesicles. With ischemia, phase 1 peak Ca2+ release was 26% lower ( P < 0.05) in SR vesicles only. For phase 2, peak Ca2+ release was 54 and 24% lower ( P < 0.05) in SR vesicles and homogenates, respectively. These results demonstrate that prolonged skeletal muscle ischemia leads to a reduced SR Ca2+uptake in both homogenates and SR vesicles. The effects of ischemia on SR Ca2+ release, however, depend on both the phase examined and the type of tissue preparation.