Calcium binding protein changes of sarcoplasmic reticulum from rat denervated skeletal muscle

Two Ca2+ sequestering proteins were studied in fast-twitch (EDL) and slow-twitch (soleus) muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) as a function of denervation time. Ca2+-ATPase activity measured in SR fractions of normal soleus represented 5% of that measure in SR fractions of normal EDL. Denervation caused a severe decrease in activity only in fast-twitch muscle. Ca2+-ATPase and calsequestrin contents were affected differently by denervation. In EDL SR, Ca2+-ATPase content decreased progressively, whereas in soleus SR, no variation was observed. Calsequestrin showed a slight increase in both muscles as a function of denervation time correlated with increased 45Ca-binding. These results indicate first that Ca2+-ATPase activity in EDL was under neural control, and that because of low Ca2+-ATPase activity and content in slow-twitch muscle no variation could be detected, and secondly that greater calsequestrin content might represent a relative increasing of heavy vesicles or decreasing of light vesicles as a function of denervation time in the whole SR fraction isolated in both types of muscles.