Action potential-evoked calcium release is impaired in single skeletal muscle fibers from heart failure patients.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Exercise intolerance in chronic heart failure (HF) has been attributed to abnormalities of the skeletal muscles. Muscle function depends on intact excitation-contraction coupling (ECC), but ECC studies in HF models have been inconclusive, due to deficiencies in the animal models and tools used to measure calcium (Ca2+) release, mandating investigations in skeletal muscle from HF patients. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that Ca2+ release is significantly impaired in the skeletal muscle of HF patients in whom exercise capacity is severely diminished compared to age-matched healthy volunteers.

Methods and findings

Using state-of-the-art electrophysiological and optical techniques in single muscle fibers from biopsies of the locomotive vastus lat

SUBMITTER: DiFranco M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4195605 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature