Calcium content of frog sciatic nerve during chronic hypocalcemia and hypercalcemia

We examined the calcium contents of desheathed peripheral nerve, perineurial sheath, and whole sciatic nerve in the frog as a function of the steady-state plasma concentration of ionized calcium. Chronic hypocalcemia was induced by parathyroidectomy and by bathing frogs in a phosphate medium. Chronic hypercalcemia was induced by administering vitamin D3 and by bathing frogs for up to 2 wk in medium containing 50 mM CaCl2. Calcium was measured with a calcium-sensitive electrode and by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The calcium contents (mmol/kg wet wt) in whole nerve, desheathed nerve, and the perineurial sheath varied linearly with slopes of 0.72, 0.71, and 1.72, respectively, with plasma concentration (mM) of ionized calcium, which ranged from 0.3 to 8.0 mM. In the same animals the calcium content in the cerebrum was independent of plasma calcium between 0.5 and 1.5 mM but rose at higher plasma concentrations. Our results indicate that net calcium concentration in the frog peripheral nerve is not regulated during chronic hypocalcemia and hypercalcemia, whereas brain calcium is regulated at plasma calcium concentrations less than 1.5 mM. The lack of calcium regulation in the nerve is attributed to the lack of calcium regulation in the endoneurial compartment.