Selective increase in cytoplasmic calcium by anesthetic in lymphocytes from malignant hyperthermia-susceptible pigs

Anesthetic-induced malignant hyperthermia in pigs and humans is characterized by muscle rigidity and rapid, often fatal, increases in body temperature. A defect in Ca2+ homeostasis has been suspected as underlying the disease, based on the preventive effect of dantrolene sodium, an agent thought to reduce Ca2+ levels in the cytoplasm. We describe here direct measurements of cytoplasmic ionized Ca2+ levels in lymphocytes from seven normal and 12 malignant hyperthermia-susceptible pigs, using the fluorescent indicator quin2. No differences in the concentration of cytoplasmic ionized Ca2+ were found in cells from malignant hyperthermia-susceptible pigs (160 +/- 10 nM) relative to the controls (150 +/- 10 nM). However, addition of halothane in vitro caused a significant increase (to 270 +/- 30 nM) in lymphocytes from malignant hyperthermia-susceptible pigs, but not from normal pigs (180 +/- 10 nM). The halothane-mediated increase in cytoplasmic ionized Ca2+ required extracellular Ca2+. It is suggested that general anesthetics such as halothane increase the permeability of the cell surface to Ca2+, and that this increase may, on its own or indirectly, increase the cytoplasmic level of ionized Ca2+ during a malignant hyperthermia crisis. The detection of a halothane-dependent increase in cytoplasmic ionized Ca2+ selectively in malignant hyperthermia-susceptible pigs could be the basis for a noninvasive test for malignant hyperthermia.