Quinine and Caffeine Effects on 45Ca Movements in Frog Sartorius Muscle

1 mM caffeine, which produces only twitch potentiation and not contracture in frog sartorius muscle, increases both the uptake and release of (45)Ca in this muscle by about 50 %, thus acting like higher, contracture-producing concentrations but less intensely. Quinine increases the rate of release of (45)Ca from frog sartorius but not from the Achilles tendon. The thresholds for the quinine effect on (45)Ca release and contracture tension are about 0.1 and 0.5 mM, respectively, at pH 7.1. Quinine (2 mM) also doubles the uptake of (45)Ca by normally polarized muscle. However, there are variable effects of quinine upon (45)Ca uptake in potassium-depolarized muscle. Quinine (2 mM), increases the Ca, Na, and water content of muscle while decreasing the K content. Both caffeine (1 mM) and quinine (2 mM) act to release (45)Ca from muscles that have been washed in Ringer's solution from which Ca was omitted and to which EDTA (5 mM) was added. These results, correlated with those of others, indicate that a basic effect of caffeine and quinine on muscle is to directly release activator Ca(2+) from the sarcoplasmic reticulum in proportion to the drug concentration. The drugs may also enhance the depolarization-induced Ca release caused by extra K(+) or an action potential. In respect to the myoplasmic Ca(2+) released by direct action of the drugs, a relatively high concentration is required to activate even only threshold contracture, but a much lower concentration, added to that released during excitation-contraction coupling, is associated with the condition causing considerable twitch potentiation.