Muscle action potentials, types

Autonomic receptors further regulate calcium influx through the sarcolemma (Fig. 15.1). (3-Adrenergic stimulation results in the association of a catalytic subunit of a G protein coupled to the (3-receptor. This stimulates the enzyme adenylyl cyclase to convert ATP to cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). Increasing cAMP production results in a cAMP-dependent phosphorylation of the L-type calcium channel and a subsequent increase in the probability of the open state of the channel. This translates to an increase in transsarcolemmal calcium influx during phase 2 (the plateau phase) of the cardiac muscle action potential. The effects of transient increases in intracellular levels of cAMP are tightly con-... 

Takahashi, M., Kubo, T., Mizoguchi, A., Carlson, C. G., Endo, K. and Ohnishi, K. (2002) Spontaneous muscle action potentials fail to develop without fetal-type acetylcholine receptors. EMBORep 3, 674-681. 

Stimulation of the peripheral nerve trunk of intact animals leads to generation of muscle action potentials of three types. According to the duration of latent periods, they fall into the following order M-response (the result of the direct stimulation of a-motor neuron axons), Fl-response (the monosynaptic response), and polysynaptic responses with the variable latent period from 8-12 up to about 40 ms. In test animals of the III group, the changes of temporal parameters refer mainly to the latent period and duration of M-response (Table 7.4). Polysynaptic responses occur at all intensities of excitation and have a more pronounced character than in intact rats. A marked level and more distinct differentiation of the peaks of the complex action potential were noted. 

Stimulation of the peripheral nerve trunk of intact animals leads to generation of muscle action potentials of three types. According to the dmation of latent periods, they fall into the following order (i) M-response... 

Second, as in the ventricular muscle fibres of the heart, opening of L-type channels can generate sustained plateau potentials following the initial Na +-mediated action potential — for example, in the rhythmically firing neurons of the inferior olive (Fig. 2.7). 

All types of muscle require calcium for contraction. In skeletal muscle, Ca++ ions are stored within an extensive membranous network referred to as the sarcoplasmic reticulum. This network is found throughout the muscle fiber and surrounds each myofibril. Furthermore, segments of the sarcoplasmic reticulum lie adjacent to each T tubule that, with a segment of sarcoplasmic reticulum on either side of it, is referred to as a triad. As the action potential is transmitted along the T tubule, it stimulates the release of Ca++ ions from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. The only source of calcium for skeletal muscle contraction is the sarcoplasmic reticulum. 

A pacemaker potential involves gradual depolarization of the cell membrane to threshold. The subsequent generation of an action potential causes smooth muscle contraction. This type of spontaneous depolarization is referred to as a "pacemaker potential" because it creates a regular rhythm of contraction. 

Holton My understanding is that the vena cava is a tonic smooth muscle, and therefore it is right at one end of a spectrum of smooth muscle contractile types. This means that, it generates tension slowly, it maintains tension when it is activated and it doesn t show action potentials. Its organization may be very different from a phasic smooth muscle that normally operates by action potentials and cannot maintain tension. 

A next-level assay is usually an isolated heart/cardiac tissue preparation. The canine Purkinje fiber assay (GLP) measures several action potential parameters, like resting membrane potential, upstroke velocity, action potential duration and shape, but also if a drug acts reverse-use dependently [72]. Based on changes of the action potential shape it is possible to conclude which ion channels are modulated (e.g., L-type calcium channel block would abolish the plateau phase). The papillary muscle assay (e.g., guinea pigs) determines similar parameters [73]. 

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