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Myosin linked calcium regulation in vertebrate smooth muscle

Nature volume 252, pages 405–407 (1974)Cite this article

Abstract

CONTRACTILITY resulting from the interaction of actin and myosin filaments is in general controlled by the concentration of calcium ions. The regulation of this interaction by Ca ions can, in principle, be exercised at the level either of the actin or of the myosin filaments and both these types of regulatory system are found in nature. In vertebrate skeletal muscle troponin is the Ca receptor and is attached to the actin filament. The action of troponin is inhibitory: when no Ca ions are bound to it the interaction between actin and myosin is prevented1–4. This inhibition is relieved and interaction occurs at calcium concentrations sufficient for the Ca binding sites on the molecule to be occupied. The second type of regulatory system was discovered in molluscan muscles and is present in other invertebrate systems which lack troponin5,6. In some cases both types of regulation seem to be present in the same muscle6,7. Here I present evidence which shows that such a myosin-linked regulatory system is not confined to invertebrates but is also present in smooth muscles of higher vertebrates. A more detailed description of the regulatory system in this muscle type is presented elsewhere8,9.

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Author notes

  1. ROBERT D. BREMEL

    Present address: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, 27710

    ROBERT D. BREMEL

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  1. ROBERT D. BREMEL
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BREMEL, R. Myosin linked calcium regulation in vertebrate smooth muscle. Nature 252, 405–407 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/252405a0

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