[Contraction-relaxation coupling of skeletal muscle in patients susceptible to malignant hyperthermia].

Objective: To assess whether halothane exposure could influence contraction-relaxation coupling of human skeletal muscle with malignant hyperthermia susceptibility. STUDY DESIGNED: Laboratory investigation.

Material And Methods: Muscle biopsies from 14 patients, including six classified as susceptible to MH (MHS) and eight as classified as non-susceptible (MHN) according to criteria of the European MH group.

Shortening velocity of skeletal muscle from humans with malignant hyperthermia susceptibility: effects of halothane.

The aim of this investigation was to assess the effect of halothane on the velocity of shortening and lengthening of muscle from normal subjects and from patients with malignant hyperthermia susceptibility. Strips were mounted horizontally at optimal length in normal Krebs-Ringer's solution and mechanical parameters were obtained before and after exposure to 3 vol.% halothane.