Denervation‐induced proliferative changes of triads in rabbit skeletal muscle

Protein compositional and functional differences exist between longitudinal and junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) in relation to Ca transport and to Ca release. In light of this knowledge, we have reinvestigated the effects of denervation on SR of rabbit gastrocnemius, a predominantly fast muscle. Electron microscopy of 2‐weeks denervated muscle showed proliferation of transverse tubules (TT), forming junctional contacts with SR terminal cisternae (TC). At coincident periods, the yield of muscle microsomes was increased, and their fractionation by sucrose‐density centrifugation demonstrated a relative increase of heavy vesicles. Thin‐section electron microscopy of heavy SR from denervated muscle showed an increased number of vesicles containing calsequestrin (CS) as compared with control muscle. Electrophoretic analysis confirmed the relative decrease of Ca‐ATPase protein and the striking increase of CS both in total microsomes and in heavy SR vesicles. Calcium loading and Ca‐ATPase activity as well as the density of Ca‐ATPase protein were decreased to a similar extent (20–30%) in denervated muscle microsomes. Stimulation of Ca‐ATPase activity by Ca‐ionophore A23187 showed that the vesicles were tightly sealed. When probed by competitive ELISA with antibody to SR Ca‐ATPase from pure fast muscle, the Ca‐ATPase of denervated microsomes was found to be highly cross reactive. Cleveland's peptide maps of the Ca‐ATPase protein after partial digestion with S. aureus V8 protease also showed no significant change after denervation. Changes in cholesterol content and in the ratio of Mg‐ATPase to Ca‐ATPase activity of denervated muscle microsomes indicated a 4‐fold increase of TT protein, i.e., from about 3% to not more than 12% of total protein, at 2 weeks after denervation. All these changes were totally reversed upon reinnervation of muscle fibers, and the consequent muscle recovery, as obtained by nerve crushing instead of nerve sectioning. From these results, we conclude that denervated adult fast muscle, similarly to immature fast muscle, contains more junctional SR. However, the molecular and catalytic properties of the Ca‐ATPase are unaffected by denervation. Copyright © 1988 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.