Effects of adrenaline on contractility and endurance of isolated mammalian soleus with different calcium concentrations.

The ß-adrenergic receptor stimulation improves endurance in fast twitch muscles and these effects are sensitive to extracellular Ca2+ influx. Present study is aimed to determine the effects of adrenaline, with different concentrations of extracellular Ca2+[Formula: see text], on the contractility and endurance of slow twitch muscles during high frequency stimulations (HFS). Isolated soleus of rabbit was electrically stimulated (strength; 50 Hz, duration; 0.5 ms) in the presence (Test) of adrenaline (1 × 10-7 mM) or without adrenaline (CTL). Fatigue was induced with HFS (80 Hz) for the duration of 20 s. Contractions were recorded through isometric transducer connected with Powerlab. Kreb's buffer was used with three compositions: standard with 2.5 mM Ca2+ (Ca-S), Ca2+ free buffer (Ca-F) and buffer with raised Ca2+ i.e., 10 mM (Ca-R). Muscles endurance was assessed by measuring the decline in tetanic tension in the terms of percentage (%Pmax) and rate of decline in tetanic tension (dP/dt). During 20 s, %Pmax showed reduction of only 10% in Ca-S. This decline was enhanced in Ca-F (50%) and reduced in Ca-R (6%). Effect of adrenaline was observed only in Ca-F where %Pmax was about 20% greater in Test than CTL. These effects were not observed in both Ca-S and Ca-R during 20 s. However, when duration of stimulation was increased to 120 or 150 s in Ca-S and Ca-R respectively, decline in %Pmax was less in Test as compared to CTL. Thus, [Formula: see text] plays protective role against fatigue during continuous HFS in slow twitch muscles. In addition, adrenaline improves the muscles endurance during fatiguing contraction but these effects are not mediated through [Formula: see text] influx.

Pharmacological and biochemical studies on the venom of a clinically important viper snake (Echis carinatus) of Pakistan.

Echis carinatus (saw-scaled viper) has been the major culprit responsible for serious envenomation casualties throughout the subcontinent. The present study describes the electrophoretic and zymographic characterization of E. carinatus venom and its effect on mammalian smooth muscle. Crude venom showed the presence of disintegrin, PLA2, C-type lectin/lectin-like components, CRISP, Serine protease, l-amino acid oxidase and very high concentrations of SVMPs. E. carinatus venom (1, 10, 30, 50, 100 µg/ml) inhibited the active tension/force of muscle contraction in a time and concentration dependent manner. The observed effects abolished when the venom was heated at 100 °C for 5 min. However, a decrease in bath temperature from 37 °C to 26 °C or an increase in CaCl2 concentration to 5 mM did not prevent the inhibition of contractile activity. The contractile response elicited by exogenous application of 50 mM KCl and 1 µM acetylcholine (ACh) was also significantly inhibited by all venom concentrations. Prior administration of commercially available polyvalent anti-venom partially neutralized and prevented the effect of E. carinatus venom whereas addition of anti-venom at t50 failed to reverse the inhibitory effect. Studies on isolated intestinal muscle indicate involvement of myotoxic and apoptotic components in E. carinatus venom for irreversible damage to muscle tissue.