Abstract
1. In skeletal muscle there is generally a slowing of relaxation with increasing tetanus duration and it has been suggested that this is due to Ca2+ loading of parvalbumin (PA). To study this we have produced prolonged tetani in intact, single fibres from a mouse foot muscle which contain a high concentration of PA. We measured the rate of tension relaxation and also various aspects of Ca2+ handling. 2. During 'interrupted' tetani (15 repeated cycles of 100 ms with stimulation and 50 ms without) we observed a marked slowing of the relaxation both under control conditions and in acidosis (obtained by increasing the bath CO2 content). This slowing was not accompanied by any reduction of the initial rate of decline of the free myoplasmic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i), which was measured with indo-1. 3. The functioning of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) pump after tetani of various durations was analysed by plotting d[Ca2+]i/dt vs. [Ca2+]i during the final slow decline of [Ca2+]i after tetani. This analysis showed that the rate of SR Ca2+ pumping after a 1 s tetanus is less than half of that after a 100 ms tetanus. 4. The amplitude of the tail of [Ca2+]i 250 ms into relaxation was measured after tetani of various durations. This amplitude increased with tetanus duration and could be fitted to the sum of one exponential and one linear function. The exponential component increased with a time constant of 0.17 s and probably reflects Ca2+ loading of PA. 5. Ca2+ binding to PA will displace Mg2+ and hence the free myoplasmic concentration of Mg2+ ([Mg2+]i) will increase. To study this we used the fluorescent Mg2+ indicator furaptra. The results showed an increase of [Mg2+]i during prolonged tetani which, after removing the Ca2+ component of the fluorescent signal, amounted to about 0.5 mM. 6. A model of Ca2+ movements and tension production in skeletal muscle was used. The model showed that the increase of the amplitude of [Ca2+]i tails after tetani of various durations can be explained by the combined effect of Ca2+ loading of PA and slowed SR Ca2+ pumping. In contrast to the experimental data, the model predicted a slight reduction of the initial rate of [Ca2+]i decline with increased tetanus duration. 7. In conclusion, we observed a marked slowing of relaxation during prolonged tetanic stimulation. Altered Ca2+ handling, including Ca2+ loading of PA, seems not to be important for this slowing. Thus, the slowing appears to be due to altered cross-bridge kinetics.