Publication Date:
2022-05-26
Description:
Author Posting. © Company of Biologists, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of Company of Biologists for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Experimental Biology 223(3), (2019): jeb.218081, doi: 10.1242/jeb.218081.
Description:
An important aspect of the performance of many fast muscle fiber types is rapid excitation. Previous research on the cross-striated muscle fibers responsible for the rapid tentacle strike in squid has revealed the specializations responsible for high shortening velocity, but little is known about excitation of these fibers. Conventional whole-cell patch recordings were made from tentacle fibers and the slower obliquely striated muscle fibers of the arms. The fast-contracting tentacle fibers show an approximately 10-fold greater sodium conductance than that of the arm fibers and, unlike the arm fibers, the tentacle muscle fibers produce action potentials. In situ hybridization using an antisense probe to the voltage-dependent sodium channel present in this squid genus shows prominent expression of sodium channel mRNA in tentacle fibers but undetectable expression in arm fibers. Production of action potentials by tentacle muscle fibers and their absence in arm fibers is likely responsible for the previously reported greater twitch–tetanus ratio in the tentacle versus the arm fibers. During the rapid tentacle strike, a few closely spaced action potentials would result in maximal activation of transverse tentacle muscle. Activation of the slower transverse muscle fibers in the arms would require summation of excitatory postsynaptic potentials over a longer time, allowing the precise modulation of force required for supporting slower movements of the arms.
Description:
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (IOS 1557754 to W.F.G. and IOS 0951067 to W.M.K.).
Description:
2021-01-03
Keywords:
Calcium current
;
Cephalopod muscle
;
Current clamp
;
Patch clamp
;
Sodium current
;
Voltage clamp
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
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