Visualization of the subsarcolemmal cytoskeleton network of mouse skeletal muscle cells by en face views and application to immunoelectron localization of dystrophin

Elevated subsarcolemmal Ca2+ in mdx mouse skeletal muscle fibers detected with Ca2+-activated K+ channels

Duchenne muscular dystrophy results from the lack of dystrophin, a cytoskeletal protein associated with the inner surface membrane, in skeletal muscle. The cellular mechanisms responsible for the progressive skeletal muscle degeneration that characterizes the disease are still debated. One hypothesis suggests that the resting sarcolemmal permeability for Ca(2+) is increased in dystrophic muscle, leading to Ca(2+) accumulation in the cytosol and eventually to protein degradation. However, more recently, this hypothesis was challenged seriously by several groups that did not find any significant increase in the global intracellular Ca(2+) in muscle from mdx mice, an animal model of the human disease. In the present study, using plasma membrane Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channels as subsarcolemmal Ca(2+) probe, we tested the possibility of a Ca(2+) accumulation at the restricted subsarcolemmal level in mdx skeletal muscle fibers. Using the cell-attached configuration of the patch-clamp technique, we demonstrated that the voltage threshold for activation of high conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channels is significantly lower in mdx than in control muscle, suggesting a higher subsarcolemmal [Ca(2+)]. In inside-out patches, we showed that this shift in the voltage threshold for high conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channel activation could correspond to a approximately 3-fold increase in the subsarcolemmal Ca(2+) concentration in mdx muscle. These data favor the hypothesis according to which an increased calcium entry is associated with the absence of dystrophin in mdx skeletal muscle, leading to Ca(2+) overload at the subsarcolemmal level.

Intracellular calcium signals measured with indo-1 in isolated skeletal muscle fibres from control and mdx mice

1. Intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) was measured with the fluorescent indicator indo-1 in single skeletal fibres enzymatically isolated from the flexor digitorum brevis and interosseus muscles of control and dystrophic mdx C57BL/10 mice. Measurements were taken from a portion of fibre that was voltage clamped to allow detection of depolarization-induced changes in [Ca2+]i. 2. The mean (+/- s.e.m.) initial resting [Ca2+]i from all control and mdx fibres tested was 56 +/- 5 nM (n = 72) and 48 +/- 7 nM (n = 57), respectively, indicating no significant overall difference between the two groups. However, when comparing a batch of control and mdx fibres obtained from mice older than approximately 35 weeks, resting [Ca2+]i was significantly lower in mdx (16 +/- 4 nM, n = 11) than in control fibres (71 +/- 10 nM, n = 14). 3. Changes in [Ca2+]i elicited by short (5-35 ms) depolarizing pulses from -80 to 0 mV showed similar properties in control and mdx fibres. After a 5 ms duration pulse the mean time constant of [Ca2+]i decay was, however, significantly elevated in mdx as compared to control fibres, by a factor of 1.5-2. For longer pulses, no significant difference could be detected. 4. In response to 50 ms duration depolarizing pulses of various amplitudes the threshold for detection of an [Ca2+]i change and the peak [Ca2+]i reached for a given potential were similar in control and mdx fibres. 5. Overall results show that mdx skeletal muscle fibres are quite capable of handling [Ca2+]i at rest and in response to membrane depolarizations.

Muscle cell peeling from micropatterned collagen: direct probing of focal and molecular properties of matrix adhesion

To quantitatively elucidate attributes of myocyte-matrix adhesion, muscle cells were controllably peeled from narrow strips of collagen-coated glass. Initial growth of primary quail myoblasts on collagen strips was followed by cell alignment, elongation and end-on fusion between neighbors. This geometric influence on differentiation minimized lateral cell contact and cell branching, enabling detailed study of myocyte-matrix adhesion. A micropipette was used to pull back one end of a quasi-cylindrical cell while observing in detail the non-equilibrium detachment process. Peeling velocities fluctuated as focal roughness, microm in scale, was encountered along the detachment front. Nonetheless, mean peeling velocity (microm/second) generally increased with detachment force (nN), consistent with forced disruption of adhesion bonds. Immunofluorescence of beta1-integrins correlated with the focal roughness and appeared to be clustered in axially extended focal contacts. In addition, the peeling forces and rates were found to be moderately well described by a dynamical peeling model for receptor-based adhesion (Dembo, M., Torney, D. C., Saxman, K. and Hammer, D. (1988). Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 234, 55–83). Estimates were thereby obtained for the spontaneous, molecular off-rate (kooff, (less than or equal to)10/seconds) and the receptor complex stiffness (kappa, approx. 10(−5)-10(−6) N/m) of adherent myocytes. Interestingly, the local stiffness is within the range of flexible proteins of the spectrin superfamily. The overall approach lends itself to elucidating the developing function of other structural and adhesive components of cells, particularly skeletal muscle cells with specialized components, such as the spectrin-homolog dystrophin and its membrane-linked receptor dystroglycan.

Differential distribution of dystrophin and beta-spectrin at the sarcolemma of fast twitch skeletal muscle fibers

We used double label immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy to examine the organization of beta-spectrin and dystrophin at the sarcolemma of fast twitch myofibers in the Extensor Digitorum Longus (EDL) of the rat. Both beta-spectrin and dystrophin are concentrated in costameres, a rectilinear sarcolemmal array composed of longitudinal strands and transverse elements overlying Z and M lines. In contrast, intercostameric regions, lying between these linear structures, contain significant levels of dystrophin but little detectable beta-spectrin. The dystrophin-associated proteins, syntrophin and beta-dystroglycan, are also concentrated at costameres but, like dystrophin, are present in intercostameric regions as well. Dystrophin is present at costameres and intercostameric regions in fast twitch muscles of the mouse but is absent from all regions of the sarcolemma in the mdx mouse, which lacks dystrophin. Areas of the sarcolemma near myonuclei also contain dystrophin without beta-spectrin, consistent with the idea that the distribution of dystrophin at the sarcolemma is not dependent on beta-spectrin. We conclude that dystrophin is present under all areas of the sarcolemma. The increased fragility of the sarcolemma in patients with Duchennes muscular dystrophy may be explained in part by the absence of dystrophin not only from costameres, but also from intercostameric regions.

Similarity of ATP-dependent K+ channels in skeletal muscle fibres from normal and mutant mdx mice

1. ATP-dependent K+ (KATP) channels were studied in fibres isolated from flexor digitorum brevis and interosseal skeletal muscles of normal and mutant mdx mice using the patch clamp technique in the presence of asymmetrical K+ concentrations (5 mM K+ in the pipette and in vivo intracellular [K+] or 145 mM K+ at the cytoplasmic face). 2. In cell-attached patches from mdx muscle fibres bathed in K(+)-rich solution, cell poisoning with fluorodinitrobenzene induced partially reversible opening of channels carrying an outward current of an amplitude of 1.2 pA at 0 mV. Exposure of fibres to the K+ channel opener cromakalim led to opening of the same type of channel. These channels were assumed to be KATP channels. 3. On excision of inside-out patches from mdx muscle fibres, in the absence of intracellular ATP, KATP channels were active: they carried a unitary outward current of 1.6 pA at 0 mV and were inhibited by intracellular ATP and glibenclamide. The number of KATP channels per patch was not significantly different in muscles from normal and mdx mice. 4. In inside-out patches, in the presence of 1 mM intracellular Mg2+, slope conductances of 21 and 20.3 pS were found for KATP channels in normal and mdx muscle, respectively. In the absence of Mg2+, slope conductances of KATP channels were 31.3 and 32 pS in normal and mdx muscle, respectively and KATP channel activity was augmented in mdx muscle in the same way as in normal muscle. Activity of the same KATP channel was observed in extensor digitorum longus muscle from normal and mdx mice. 5. In inside-out patches held at 0 mV, the relationship between KATP channel activity and intracellular ATP was described by a Hill equation: Ki values were 23 and 21 microM and Hill coefficients were 1.8 and 1.9 in normal and mdx muscle, respectively. 6. These results indicate that the distribution, the conductance properties and ATP sensitivity of KATP channels do not differ in normal and in mdx mouse skeletal muscle.