Contractile activation phenomena in voltage-clamped barnacle muscle fiber

Tension development in voltage-clamped barnacle muscle fibers occurs with depolarizing pulses so small as not to activate the potassium and calcium conductance systems. Peak tension and the tension time integral appear to be graded by both amplitude and duration of the depolarizing pulses. Subthreshold depolarizing conditioning pulses shorter than 500 ms potentiate the response to a given test pulse. This effect diminishes and reverts when the duration of the conditioning pulse is increasingly prolonged. The relationship between fiber membrane potential and tension developed in response to depolarizing pulses is described by an S-shaped curve. The tension saturates at a membrane potential of about +10 mV (inside positive). For a given pulse duration the saturation value remains constant even when the fiber interior reaches a value of +230 mV, which is well above what may be estimated to be the equilibrium potential of calcium ions (Eca = +120). In the presence of 5 mM external procaine, the shape of the tension-potential curve changes; the maximum value tension besides being diminished is not sustained by falls when the potential approaches the estimated value for Eca. These results suggest that under physiological conditions the contractile activator is probably released from an internal store, and that the calcium entering the fiber as inward current does not play a direct major role in contractile activation.