Effects of exercise and doxorubicin on acute diaphragm neuromuscular transmission failure.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a highly effective anthracycline antibiotic used to treat a wide variety of cancers including breast cancer, leukemia and lymphoma. Unfortunately, clinical use of DOX is limited due to adverse off-target effects resulting in fatigue, respiratory muscle weakness and dyspnea. The diaphragm is the primary muscle of inspiration and respiratory insufficiency is likely the result of both muscle weakness and neural impairment.

Targeting mitochondrial Ca uptake for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare adult-onset neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive motor neuron (MN) loss, muscle denervation and paralysis. Over the past several decades, researchers have made tremendous efforts to understand the pathogenic mechanisms underpinning ALS, with much yet to be resolved. ALS is described as a non-cell autonomous condition with pathology detected in both MNs and non-neuronal cells, such as glial cells and skeletal muscle.

Acute exposure to extracellular BTP2 does not inhibit Ca2+ release during EC coupling in intact skeletal muscle fibers.

The inhibitor of store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) BTP2 was reported to inhibit ryanodine receptor Ca2+ leak and electrically evoked Ca2+ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum when introduced into mechanically skinned muscle fibers. However, it is unclear how effects of intracellular application of a highly lipophilic drug like BTP2 on Ca2+ release during excitation-contraction (EC) coupling compare with extracellular exposure in intact muscle fibers. Here, we address this question by quantifying the effect of short- and long-term exposure to 10 and 20 µM BTP2 on the magnitude and kinetics of electrically evoked Ca2+ release in intact mouse flexor digitorum brevis muscle fibers.

Muscle-specific SMN reduction reveals motor neuron-independent disease in spinal muscular atrophy models.

Paucity of the survival motor neuron (SMN) protein triggers the oft-fatal infantile-onset motor neuron disorder, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Augmenting the protein is one means of treating SMA and recently led to FDA approval of an intrathecally delivered SMN-enhancing oligonucleotide currently in use. Notwithstanding the advent of this and other therapies for SMA, it is unclear whether the paralysis associated with the disease derives solely from dysfunctional motor neurons that may be efficiently targeted by restricted delivery of SMN-enhancing agents to the nervous system, or stems from broader defects of the motor unit, arguing for systemic SMN repletion.

Maternal diet-induced obesity alters muscle mitochondrial function in offspring without changing insulin sensitivity.

overnutrition can predispose offspring to metabolic disease. Although the mechanisms are unclear, increased oxidative stress accelerating cellular aging has been shown to play a role. Mitochondria are the main site of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in most cell types.

Isolating a reverse-mode ATP synthase-dependent mechanism of mitoflash activation.

Wei-LaPierre and Dirksen discuss new work investigating the molecular events underlying mitoflash biogenesis.

Substrate-dependent and cyclophilin D-independent regulation of mitochondrial flashes in skeletal and cardiac muscle.

Mitochondrial flashes (mitoflashes) are stochastic events in the mitochondrial matrix detected by mitochondrial-targeted cpYFP (mt-cpYFP). Mitoflashes are quantal bursts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production accompanied by modest matrix alkalinization and depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential. Mitoflashes are fundamental events present in a wide range of cell types.

Loss of adult skeletal muscle stem cells drives age-related neuromuscular junction degeneration.

Neuromuscular junction degeneration is a prominent aspect of sarcopenia, the age-associated loss of skeletal muscle integrity. Previously, we showed that muscle stem cells activate and contribute to mouse neuromuscular junction regeneration in response to denervation (Liu et al., 2015).

Core skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor calcium release complex.

The core skeletal muscle ryanodine receptor (RyR1) calcium release complex extends through three compartments of the muscle fibre, linking the extracellular environment through the cytoplasmic junctional gap to the lumen of the internal sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium store. The protein complex is essential for skeletal excitation-contraction (EC)-coupling and skeletal muscle function. Its importance is highlighted by perinatal death if any one of the EC-coupling components are missing and by myopathies associated with mutation of any of the proteins.

Mitochondrial Flash: Integrative Reactive Oxygen Species and pH Signals in Cell and Organelle Biology.

Significance: Recent breakthroughs in mitochondrial research have advanced, reshaped, and revolutionized our view of the role of mitochondria in health and disease. These discoveries include the development of novel tools to probe mitochondrial biology, the molecular identification of mitochondrial functional proteins, and the emergence of new concepts and mechanisms in mitochondrial function regulation. The discovery of "mitochondrial flash" activity has provided unique insights not only into real-time visualization of individual mitochondrial redox and pH dynamics in live cells but has also advanced understanding of the excitability, autonomy, and integration of mitochondrial function in vivo.

Inducible depletion of adult skeletal muscle stem cells impairs the regeneration of neuromuscular junctions.

Skeletal muscle maintenance depends on motor innervation at neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). Multiple mechanisms contribute to NMJ repair and maintenance; however muscle stem cells (satellite cells, SCs), are deemed to have little impact on these processes. Therefore, the applicability of SC studies to attenuate muscle loss due to NMJ deterioration as observed in neuromuscular diseases and aging is ambiguous.

Antioxidants protect calsequestrin-1 knockout mice from halothane- and heat-induced sudden death.

Background: Mice lacking calsequestrin-1 (CASQ1-null), a Ca-binding protein that modulates the activity of Ca release in the skeletal muscle, exhibit lethal hypermetabolic episodes that resemble malignant hyperthermia in humans when exposed to halothane or heat stress.

Methods: Because oxidative species may play a critical role in malignant hyperthermia crises, we treated CASQ1-null mice with two antioxidants, N-acetylcysteine (NAC, Sigma-Aldrich, Italy; provided ad libitum in drinking water) and (±)-6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchromane-2-carboxylic acid (Trolox, Sigma-Aldrich; administered by intraperitoneal injection), before exposure to halothane (2%, 1 h) or heat (41°C, 1 h).

Results: NAC and Trolox significantly protected CASQ1-null mice from lethal episodes, with mortality being 79% (n = 14), 25% (n = 16), and 20% (n = 5) during halothane exposure and 86% (n = 21), 29% (n = 21), and 33% (n = 6) during heat stress in untreated, NAC-treated, and Trolox-treated mice, respectively.

Oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage, and cores in muscle from calsequestrin-1 knockout mice.

Background: Mutations in the gene encoding ryanodine receptor type-1 (RYR1), the calcium ion (Ca (2+)) release channel in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of skeletal muscle, are linked to central core disease (CCD) and malignant hyperthermia (MH) susceptibility. We recently reported that mice lacking the skeletal isoform of calsequestrin (CASQ1-null), the primary Ca (2+) buffer in the SR of skeletal muscle and a modulator of RYR1 activity, exhibit lethal heat- and anesthetic-induced hypermetabolic episodes that resemble MH events in humans.

Methods: We compared ultrastructure, oxidative status, and contractile function in skeletal fibers of extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles in wild type (WT) and CASQ1-null mice at different ages (from 4 to 27 months) using structural, biochemical, and functional assays.

New method for determining total calcium content in tissue applied to skeletal muscle with and without calsequestrin.

We describe a new method for determining the concentration of total Ca in whole skeletal muscle samples ([CaT]WM in units of mmoles/kg wet weight) using the Ca-dependent UV absorbance spectra of the Ca chelator BAPTA (1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid). Muscle tissue was homogenized in a solution containing 0.15 mM BAPTA and 0.

Enhanced Ca²⁺ influx from STIM1-Orai1 induces muscle pathology in mouse models of muscular dystrophy.

Muscular dystrophy is a progressive muscle wasting disease that is thought to be initiated by unregulated Ca(2+) influx into myofibers leading to their death. Store-operated Ca(2+) entry (SOCE) through sarcolemmal Ca(2+) selective Orai1 channels in complex with STIM1 in the sarcoplasmic reticulum is one such potential disease mechanism for pathologic Ca(2+) entry. Here, we generated a mouse model of STIM1 overexpression in skeletal muscle to determine whether this type of Ca(2+) entry could induce muscular dystrophy.

Orai1-dependent calcium entry promotes skeletal muscle growth and limits fatigue.

Store-operated Ca²⁺ entry (SOCE) in skeletal muscle involves signalling between stromal-interacting molecule 1 (STIM1) in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and Ca²⁺ selective Orai1 channels in the sarcolemma. Here we generate transgenic mice with muscle-specific expression of dominant-negative Orai1 (dnOrai1) and demonstrate that Orai1-dependent SOCE promotes growth and limits fatigue in adult skeletal muscle. dnOrai1 mice lack SOCE specifically in muscle but are fertile and thrive well into adulthood.

Respective contribution of mitochondrial superoxide and pH to mitochondria-targeted circularly permuted yellow fluorescent protein (mt-cpYFP) flash activity.

Superoxide flashes are transient bursts of superoxide production within the mitochondrial matrix that are detected using the superoxide-sensitive biosensor, mitochondria-targeted circularly permuted YFP (mt-cpYFP). However, due to the pH sensitivity of mt-cpYFP, flashes were suggested to reflect transient events of mitochondrial alkalinization. Here, we simultaneously monitored flashes with mt-cpYFP and mitochondrial pH with carboxy-SNARF-1.