Parvalbumin expression in trout swimming muscle correlates with relaxation rate

Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) display longitudinal and developmental shifts in muscle relaxation rate. This study aimed to determine the role of variations in parvalbumin content in modulating muscle relaxation. Parvalbumin is a low molecular weight protein that buffers myoplasmic Ca2+ and enhances muscle relaxation. In some fish, longitudinal variations in muscle relaxation have been linked to variations in the total amount of parvalbumin present in muscle and in the relative expression of two parvalbumin isoforms. We have demonstrated previously that anterior slow-twitch or red myotomal muscle relaxes more rapidly than that from the posterior for both rainbow and brook trout. Further, younger rainbow trout parr have faster red muscle relaxation rates than older smolts. Here we report similar results for fast-twitch or white muscle. We quantified the parvalbumin expression in red and white muscle from different body positions of rainbow trout parr and smolts and for brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) adults. There was a significant shift in total parvalbumin content of muscle: the faster muscle from the anterior myotome contained greater amounts of parvalbumin. For brook trout, longitudinal variation in relaxation rate was also associated with shifts in the relative expression of the two parvalbumin isoforms. The faster muscle of parr contained more parvalbumin. Lastly, trout white muscle tended to have higher levels of parvalbumin and greater levels of the Parv2 (relative to Parv1) isoform as compared to red muscle. Parvalbumin expression correlated with muscle relaxation rate in trout, although there were species-specific differences in the importance of altering total parvalbumin content versus shifts in relative parvalbumin isoform expression.