Abstract
1. In muscle, intracellular calcium concentration, hence skeletal
muscle force and cardiac output, is regulated by uptake and release
of calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. The ryanodine receptor
(RyR) forms the calcium release channel in the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
2. The free Ca$^2+$ in the sarcoplasmic reticulum regulates
the excitability of this store by stimulating the Ca$^2+$ release
channels in its membrane. This process involves Ca$^2+$-sensing
mechanisms on both the luminal and cytoplasmic sides of the RyR.
In the cardiac RyR, these have been shown to be a luminal Ca$^2+$
activation site (L-site; 60 micromol/L affinity), a cytoplasmic activation
site (A-site; 0.9 micromol/L affinity) and a cytoplasmic Ca$^2+$
inactivation site (I2-site; 1.2 micromol/L affinity). 3. Cardiac
RyR activation by luminal Ca$^2+$ occurs by a multistep process
dubbed 'luminal-triggered Ca$^2+$ feed-through'. Binding of Ca$^2+$
to the L-site initiates brief (1 msec) openings at a rate of up to
10/s. Once the pore is open, luminal Ca$^2+$ has access to the
A-site (producing up to 30-fold prolongation of openings) and to
the I2-site (causing inactivation at high levels of Ca$^2+$ feed-through).
4. The present paper reviews the evidence for the principal aspects
of the 'luminal-triggered Ca$^2+$ feed-through' model, the properties
of the various Ca$^2+$-dependent gating mechanisms and their
likely role in controlling sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca$^2+$
release in cardiac muscle. 5. The model makes the following important
predictions: (i) there will be a close link between luminal and cytoplasmic
regulation of RyRs and any cofactor that prolongs channel openings
triggered by cytoplasmic Ca$^2+$ will also promote RyR activation
by luminal Ca$^2+$; (ii) luminal Mg2+ (1 mmol/L) is essential
for the control of SR excitability in cardiac muscle by luminal Ca$^2+$;
and (iii) the different RyR isoforms in skeletal and cardiac muscle
will be controlled quite differently by the luminal milieu. For example,
Mg2+ in the SR lumen (approximately 1 mmol/L) can strongly inhibit
RyR2 by competing with Ca$^2+$ for the L-site, whereas RyR1 is
not affected by luminal Mg2+.
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