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Divergence in the behaviour of the dihydropyridine receptor in muscle

H. Ch. Lüttgau

The process leading from electrical membrane excitation of skeletal muscle fibres to contraction is a classic example of a rapid cellular activation mechanism. Its initial step is a massive release of Ca²⁺ from a storage compartment, the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), into the myoplasm. Ca²⁺ release occurs through ryanodine receptors (RyRs), homotetrameric ion channel proteins of an enormous mass (ca 2·3 million Da). In excitation-contraction (EC) coupling the type 1 isoform of the RyR (RyR1) is remotely controlled by plasma membrane voltage. A system of narrow invaginations of the plasma membrane, the transverse tubules (T-system), carries the muscle action potential to specialized regions, the triads, where the membranes of the T-system and the terminal cisternae of the SR are in close apposition.