The loss of cardioprotection induced by the NADPH oxidase inhibitor suggests that ROS generated by this enzyme are important mediators of the preconditioning response, which presumably involves NADPH oxidase-induced RyR2 S-glutathionylation.

Tetanic electrical stimulation induces two separate calcium signals in rat skeletal myotubes, a fast one, dependent on Cav 1.1 or dihydropyridine receptors (DHPRs) and ryanodine receptors and related to contraction, and a slow signal, dependent on DHPR and inositol trisphosphate receptors (IP3Rs) and related to transcriptional events. We searched for slow calcium signals in adult muscle fibers using isolated adult flexor digitorum brevis fibers from 5–7-wk-old mice, loaded with fluo-3. When stimulated with trains of 0.3-ms pulses at various frequencies, cells responded with a fast calcium signal associated with muscle contraction, followed by a slower signal similar to one previously described in cultured myotubes. Nifedipine inhibited the slow signal more effectively than the fast one, suggesting a role for DHPR in its onset. The IP3R inhibitors Xestospongin B or C (5 µM) also inhibited it. The amplitude of post-tetanic calcium transients depends on both tetanus frequency and duration, having a maximum at 10–20 Hz. At this stimulation frequency, an increase of the slow isoform of troponin I mRNA was detected, while the fast isoform of this gene was inhibited. All three IP3R isoforms were present in adult muscle. IP3R-1 was differentially expressed in different types of muscle fibers, being higher in a subset of fast-type fibers. Interestingly, isolated fibers from the slow soleus muscle did not reveal the slow calcium signal induced by electrical stimulus. These results support the idea that IP3R-dependent slow calcium signals may be characteristic of distinct types of muscle fibers and may participate in the activation of specific transcriptional programs of slow and fast phenotype.

No abstract

RyR3 is the major component of parajunctional feet in skeletal muscle and the main ryanodine receptor mediating Ca2+ sparks.

Summary The receptors for the second messenger InsP3 comprise a family of closely related ion channels that release Ca2+ from intracellular stores, most prominently the endoplasmic reticulum and its extension into the nuclear envelope. The precise sub-cellular localization of InsP3Rs and the spatial relationships among them are important for the initiation, spatial and temporal properties and propagation of local and global Ca2+ signals, but the spatial organization of InsP3Rs in Ca2+ stores is poorly characterized. Using nuclei isolated from insect Sf9 cells and freeze-dry rotary shadowing, we have addressed this by directly visualizing the cytoplasmic domain of InsP3R located on the cytoplasmic side of the nuclear envelope. Identification of ~15 nm structures as the cytoplasmic domain of InsP3R was indirectly supported by a marked increase in their frequency after transient transfections with cDNAs for rat types 1 and 3 InsP3R, and directly confirmed by gold labeling either with heparin or a specific anti-InsP3R antibody. Over-expression of InsP3R did not result in the formation of arrays or clusters with channels touching each other. Gold-labeling suggests that the channel amino terminus resides near the center of the cytoplasmic tetrameric quaternary structure. The combination of nuclear isolation with freeze-drying and rotary shadow techniques allows direct visualization of InsP3Rs in native nuclear envelopes and can be used to determine their spatial distribution and density.