Ryanodine interferes with charge movement repriming in amphibian skeletal muscle fibers

Cut twitch muscle fibers mounted in a triple Vaseline-gap chamber were used to study the effects of ryanodine on intramembranous charge movement, and in particular on the repriming of charge 1. Charge 1 repriming was measured either under steady-state conditions or by using a pulse protocol designed to study the time course of repriming. This protocol consisted of repolarizing the fibers to -100 mV from a holding potential of 0 mV, and then measuring the reprimed charge moving in the potential range between -40 and +20 mV. Ryanodine at a high concentration (100 microM) did not affect the maximum amount of movable charge 1 and charge 2, or their voltage dependence. This indicates that the alkaloid does not interact with the voltage sensor molecules. However, ryanodine did reduce the amount of reprimed charge 1 by approximately 60% suggesting the possibility of a retrograde interaction between ryanodine receptors and voltage sensors