Cultured muscle cells from patients susceptible to malignant hyperthermia exhibit an increased magnitude of a slow inward sodium current, which may be a manifestation of the underlying lesion.
Voltage-activated ion currents were measured in cultured skeletal muscle myoballs. Cultures were generated from biopsies from patients referred for diagnosis of susceptibility to malignant hyperthermia (MH); diagnosis of susceptibility (MH+) or nonsusceptibility (MH-) was made on the basis of in vitro halothane-induced contracture of a separate piece of biopsy. Measurements of ion currents were made at room temperature in the absence of anesthetic agents, using tight-seal whole-cell recording. Fast transient Na+ currents and delayed outward K+ currents were similar in magnitude and kinetics in cells from MH+ and MH- patients. An additional slowly inactivating inward current component was commonly observed in cells from MH+ patients. This current was blockable by tetrodotoxin and was carried by Na+ but not by Ba2+. The component was less frequently observed and was of a lower magnitude in cells from MH- patients. The increased magnitude of the slow inward current observed in cultured muscle cells from MH+ patients may be a manifestation of the lesion that causes MH.
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Wieland et al. (1989) studied this question.
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