Absence of staircase following disuse in rat gastrocnemius muscle

Repetitive stimulation of mammalian fast-twitch skeletal muscles will normally result in a positive staircase response. This phenomenon was investigated in the rat gastrocnemius muscle following a 2-week period of tetrodotoxin-induced disuse. Muscle inactivity was imposed by superfusing tetrodotoxin in saline over the left sciatic nerve via an implanted osmotic pump. In situ isometric contractile responses to double pulse stimulation and repetitive stimulation at 10 Hz were determined the day after removal of the pump. Two weeks of disuse resulted in 40% muscle weight loss. A twitch contraction gave the same force when expressed per gram of wet muscle weight in control muscles, 317 +/- 24.6 (means +/- SE) g/g, as compared with tetrodotoxin-treated muscles, 328 +/- 24.2 g/g. Both contraction time and half-relaxation time were prolonged following treatment with tetrodotoxin. Repetitive stimulation at 10 Hz resulted in a positive staircase response in the control muscles, but not in muscles of the tetrodotoxin-treated rats. The observed changes in the time course of the twitch contraction with repetitive stimulation following tetrodotoxin-induced disuse are consistent with alterations in sarcoplasmic reticulum handling of calcium. It is not certain if there is a change following disuse in the mechanism normally associated with staircase or if this mechanism is merely opposed by an early fatigue.