Phosphate accumulation by muscle in vitro and the influence of vitamin D3 metabolites

Phosphate accumulation by muscle in vitro and the effects of vitamin D3 metabolites thereupon were studied in cultures of chick embryo skeletal muscle myoblasts and intact chick soleus muscles. A significant proportion of phosphate accumulation by the cells was Na+-dependent, saturable with respect to phosphate, energy-dependent and inhibited by ouabain and arsenate, in agreement with the operation of a Na+-phosphate cotransport system in the muscle cell plasma membrane as has been described for intestine and kidney. This was further supported by the demonstration of substrate-saturable phosphate uptake in sarcolemma vesicles isolated from chick skeletal muscle. Preincubation of myoblast and soleus muscle cultures with physiological levels of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 resulted in a significant stimulation of phosphate accumulation by cultures. 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3 had no effects on the differentiated tissue whereas it markedly increased phosphate accumulation by embryonic muscle cells. In addition, it could be shown that 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 affects the Na+-linked component of cell phosphate uptake through a mechanism dependent on de novo protein synthesis.