Effects of extracellular calcium removal and anoxia on isolated rat myocytes

Calcium-tolerant myocytes were isolated from adult rat ventricles by successive perfusion and incubation with buffer containing collagenase and hyaluronidase. Greater than 70% of the cells excluded trypan blue, maintained normal morphology, and contracted in response to an externally applied electric field. We have characterized metabolic defects present in isolated calcium-tolerance myocytes when exposed to low concentrations of extracellular calcium under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. In control cells exposed to 1.25 mM Ca2+, the following metabolic parameters were measured (in mumol/g protein): adenosine triphosphate (ATP) 28.8 +/- 3.3, creatine phosphate (CrP) 49.1 +/- 7.5, intracellular Na+ 37.7 +/- 8.1, intracellular K+ 352.9 +/- 49.3, cellular Ca2+ 12.3 +/- 1.8, as well as rate of protein synthesis 0.34 +/- 0.03 mumol . g protein-1 . h-1. In aerobic cells incubated in medium without added Ca2+, the corresponding values (in mumol/g protein) were ATP 27.9 +/- 4.4, CrP 25.3 +/- 4.3, intracellular Na+ 130.9 +/- 23.1, intracellular K+ 217.2 +/- 32.0, cellular Ca2+ 3.9 +/- 1.0, and rate of protein synthesis 0.09 +/- 0.02 mumol . g protein-1 . h-1. These data indicated major metabolic aberrations in myocytes exposed to medium low in Ca2+ (less than 10 microM). Metabolic depression was most severe in cells incubated in the absence of both Ca2+ and O2. It is postulated that Ca2+ removal resulted in an increase in Na+ and K+ permeability, causing a net gain of intracellular Na+ and loss of intracellular K+. These ionic shifts might stimulate the activity of membrane-associated Na+-K+-ATPase, accounting for lower levels of CrP.