Beta-adrenergic regulation of voltage-dependent calcium currents in cultured skeletal myocytes of the frog Rana temporaria.

Effects of beta-agonists isoproterenol (Isp) and adrenaline (Adr) and beta-adrenoblocker obsidan (Obs) on the voltage-dependent calcium currents in cultured embryonic skeletal myocytes were studied at various stages of development ranging from day 2 to 10, using the whole-cell patch-clamp technique at 19-21 degrees C. Adr (or Isp) in concentrations 0.1-10 mumol/l increases the amplitude of both the slow dihydropyridine(DHP)-sensitive calcium current (ICa) and the fast-activated DHP-insensitive ICa. From day 2 to 6 after myoblast plating, Adr and Isp did not change the amplitude of ICa at all or slightly increased it. Obvious strong positive effects (an approximately twofold amplitude increase) on the calcium channels have been observed in 7-10-day-old myocytes only. beta-adrenoblocker obsidan known to abolish the positive beta-agonist effect, had a positive effect on membrane calcium currents. It may have been a result of the immaturity of the beta-adrenergic regulatory system of the myocytes. It is concluded that the beta-adrenergic regulatory complex can stimulate the activity of the fast and the slow voltage-dependent calcium channels of the frog skeletal myocytes, and that there is a distinct developmental stage at which a functioning beta-adrenergic regulatory complex appears in the membrane of skeletal myocytes.