Voltage change-induced gating transitions of the rabbit skeletal muscle Ca2+ release channel

1. We used the planar lipid bilayer method to study single ryanodine receptor Ca2+ release channels (RyRCs) from fast skeletal muscle of the rabbit. We found that changes in membrane voltage directly induced gating transitions of the RyRC: (i) in the steady state, even at activating Ca2+ concentrations (20 microM), at a constant membrane potential the channels resided in a low open probability (Po) state (inactivated-, I-mode), and (ii) upon abrupt changes of voltage, the apparent inactivation of the RyRCs was relieved, resulting in a rapid and transient increase in Po. 2. The magnitude of the Po increase was a function of both the duration and the amplitude of the applied prepulse, but was independent of the channel activity during the prepulse. 3. The voltage-induced Po increase probably involved major conformational changes of the channel, as it resulted in substantial alterations in the gating pattern of the channels: the voltage change-induced increase in Po was accompanied by the rapid appearance of two types of channel activity (high (H) and low (L) open probability modes). 4. The response of the RyRC to voltage changes raises the interesting possibility that the activation of RyRC in situ might involve electrical events, i.e. a possible dipole-dipole coupling between the release channel and the voltage sensor.