Anomalous ion diffusion within skeletal muscle transverse tubule networks.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Skeletal muscle fibres contain transverse tubular (t-tubule) networks that allow electrical signals to rapidly propagate into the fibre. These electrical signals are generated by the transport of ions across the t-tubule membranes and this can result in significant changes in ion concentrations within the t-tubules during muscle excitation. During periods of repeated high-frequency activation of skeletal muscle the t-tubule K+ concentration is believed to increase significantly and diffusive K+ transport from the t-tubules into the interstitial space provides a mechanism for alleviating muscle membrane depolarization. However, the tortuous nature of the highly branched space-filling t-tubule network impedes the diffusion of material through the network. The effective dif

SUBMITTER: Shorten PR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1899483 | biostudies-literature | 2007 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature