Calcium transients which accompany the activation of sodium current in rat ventricular myocytes at 37°C: a trigger role for reverse Na-Ca exchange activated by membrane potential?

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Abstract
We investigated the role of the fast sodium current (I Na) in triggering Ca release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), using adult rat left ventricular myocytes, loaded with Fura-2 to measure intracellular Ca (Cai), which were whole-cell patch-clamped at 35–37°C. Before each test pulse, a series of 400-ms conditioning pulses to +10 mV were applied to establish a constant level of SR Ca load. Pulses were applied every 15 s. A test pulse from −80 mV to −50 mV elicited a rapidI Na and a phasic Cai transient. When the solution perfusing a myocyte was rapidly switched for 15 s before a test pulse to one containing the L-type Ca channel blocker nifedipine (20 μM), the test pulse still activatedI Na and a phasic Cai transient, the amplitude of which was not significantly different from control (P>0.05;t-test). When a rapid switch to 20 μM nifedipine plus 30 μM tetrodotoxin (TTX) was made 15 s before a test pulse, bothI Na and the Cai transient were completely abolished (n=6). When a switch was made to Na-free (Li) solution, which contained 20 μM nifedipine to block L-type Ca current,I Ca,L, there was no significant difference in the Cai transient amplitude from that of control (P>0.05;n=6). Brief depolarising test pulses (−80 mV to +20 mV, 10 ms duration) to simulate membrane potential escape also elicited a Cai transient which attained 90.0% (±2.8%;n=7) of the Cai transient activated by a conditioning pulse to +10 mV. The Cai transient with a brief pulse was not significantly affected by application of 20 μM nifedipine (P>0.05), but adding TTX with nifedipine reduced the Cai transient amplitude to 76.9% (±6.8%;Pn=8). In four cells, the Cai transient remaining in the presence of nifedipine plus TTX was abolished by adding 5 mM Ni. These data are consistent with “voltage escape” during activation ofI Na leading to a trigger Ca entry via a mechanism other than L-type Ca channels or subsarcolemmal Na accumulation with reverse Na-Ca exchange. The block by Ni of the Cai transient suggests that a brief membrane potential escape might directly activate reverse mode Na-Ca exchange to trigger SR release, and this mechanism would seem to account largely for the Cai transient which accompaniesI Na in rat myocytes, under these experimental recording conditions.