The cases of polymyositis tients with polymyositis experience muscle tenderness or associated with cancer (a paraneoplastic syndrome) are aching pain; a similar proportion of patients have some in- thought to be due to the altered immune status or tumor volvement of the heart muscle virus c buy 250 mg fuqixing otc. Several other disorders may present symptoms similar Primary idiopathic polymyositis cases comprise ap- to polymyositis; these include neurological or neuromus- proximately one third of the inflammatory myopathies virus zeus buy 100mg fuqixing amex. Early third of polymyositis cases are associated with a closely re- stages of muscular dystrophy may mimic polymyositis virus killer discount fuqixing 500 mg amex, al- lated condition called dermatomyositis, symptoms of though the overall courses of the diseases differ consider- which include a mild heliotrope (light purple) rash around ably; the decline in function is much more rapid in un- the eyes and nose and other parts of the body, such as treated polymyositis. Nail bed abnormalities may also be produce symptoms of the disease, depending on the present. Still other cases (approximately 8%) are associ- severity of the infection. A large number of commonly ated with cancer present in the lung, breast, ovary, or gas- used drugs may produce the typical symptoms of muscle trointestinal tract. This association occurs mostly in older pain and weakness, and a careful drug history may sug- patients. Finally, about one fifth of polymyositis cases are gest a specific cause. In cases in which dermatomyositis is associated with other connective tissue disorders, such as combined with the typical symptoms of polymyositis, the rheumatoid arthritis and lupus erythematosus. Careful follow-up (by Polymyositis is thought to be primarily an autoim- direct muscle strength testing and measurement of serum mune disease. Muscle histology shows infiltration by in- CK levels) is necessary to determine the ongoing effective- flammatory cells such as lymphocytes, macrophages, ness of treatment. Muscle tissue destruction, which is al- may become inactive, but relapses can occur, and other most always present, occurs by phagocytosis. The route treatment approaches, such as the use of cytotoxic drugs, of infiltration often follows the vascular supply. Long-term physical therapy and assis- may be elevated serum levels of enzymes normally pres- tive devices are required when drug therapy is not suffi- ent in muscle, such as creatine kinase (CK). It is accomplished by the interaction of Explains Muscle Contraction the globular heads of the myosin molecules (crossbridges, which project from the thick filaments) with binding sites The structure of skeletal muscle provides important clues to on the actin filaments. The width of the A bands force and shortening are produced and where the chemical (thick-filament areas) in striated muscle remains constant, energy stored in the muscle is transformed into mechanical regardless of the length of the entire muscle fiber, while the energy. The total shortening of each sarcomere is only width of the I bands (thin-filament areas) varies directly about 1 m, but a muscle contains many thousands of sar- with the length of the fiber. These represent ma- the effect of multiplying all the small sarcomere length terial extending into the A band from the I bands. The lengths of the thin and thick myofilaments comere is small (a few hundred micronewtons), but, again, remain constant despite changes in fiber length. When the muscle is stretched be- thin filaments telescope into the array of thick filaments. This limits the CHAPTER 8 Contractile Properties of Muscle Cells 145 I I Over this small region, further interdigitation does not lead A A A to an increase in the number of attached crossbridges and the force remains constant. At shorter lengths, additional geometric and physical factors play a role in myofilament interactions. Since mus- cle is a “telescoping” system, there is a physical limit to the Least overlap amount of shortening. As thin myofilaments penetrate the I I A band from opposite sides, they begin to meet in the mid- dle and interfere with each other (1.
Now the SK channels cannot open antibiotics z pack generic 500mg fuqixing overnight delivery, even though intracellular [Ca2] still Ca rises (Fig antibiotics for dogs at tractor supply cheap 500mg fuqixing otc. This allows the action potential discharge to continue throughout the length of the depolarising current injection (Fig antibiotics for uti penicillin purchase fuqixing 500mg without prescription. Thus, the SKCa channels induce an adaptation of the action potential discharge to a maintained stimulus: this adaptation is lost when the SKCa channels are prevented from opening. When the opening of M-channels is inhibited by muscarine, this adaptation is again lost. Also note that muscarine has actually depolarised the cell Ð the level of membrane potential before injecting the current pulse has changed. This is because a few M-channels are open at the resting potential and actually contribute to the resting potential. As mentioned above, M-channels and KCa channels co-exist in many neurons. However, in practice, their effects are slightly different, depending on the pattern of stimulation, and in fact the two currents act synergistically Ð i. SK and M channels are not the only K channels regulated by transmitters. As Ca noted above, transmitters can also close, or open, other K channels that do not directly regulate excitability but instead determine the resting potential of the neuron, and hence depolarise or hyperpolarise the neuron. Ca2 CHANNELS: PLATEAU POTENTIALS AND PACEMAKING As pointed out above, although the principal function of voltage-gated Ca2 channels is to provide the charge of Ca2 necessary for transmitter release, Ca2 channels are also present on the somata and dendrites of most neurons. These include two classes of Ca2 channel not involved in transmitter release Ð dihydropyridine-sensitive high-threshold L-type channels, homologous to the cardiac Ca2 channels responsible for ventricular contraction and some pacemaking activity; and low-threshold, rapidly-inactivating T- type Ca2 channels. First, their opening during somato-dendritic action potentials provides the source of the increased intracellular [Ca2] required to open Ca2-activated K channels Ð BK channels, to accelerate spike repolarisation, and SK channels, to induce spike-train adaptation and limit repetitive firing. The BK channels are activated (primarily) following entry of Ca2 through L-type channels; the source of Ca2 for SK channel activation varies with different neurons, and may be either through L-type or N-type channels. Second, as in the ventricular muscle fibres of the heart, opening of L-type channels can generate sustained plateau potentials following the initial Na2-mediated action potential Ð for example, in the rhythmically firing neurons of the inferior olive (Fig. At resting potentials 4760 mV, these channels are inactivated and hence non-conducting (a voltage-sensitive closure process resembling Na channel inactivation). Under these conditions, the relay neurons show sustained rhythmic firing when tonically depolarised. However, if the neurons are first hyper- polarised, T-channel inactivation is removed. This in turn induces a rapid 46 NEUROTRANSMITTERS, DRUGS AND BRAIN FUNCTION Figure 2. The Ca2 entry activates K Ca channels, to produce a long-lasting (several hundred ms) after-hyperpolarisation. Hence, as the Ca2 is extruded and the K current declines, the low-threshold T-type Ca2 channels open, and the cell depolarises to Ca reach the threshold for the Na channel, giving a new action potential, and so on. The burst is arrested first because the Na channels inactivate, and then because the T-type Ca2 channels inactivate. Both inactivation processes are removed when the cell hyperpolarises back again, so becoming available for another burst. As a result, the cells change their firing pattern from tonic firing to burst-firing simply dependent on membrane potential.
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