On the Inhibition of Muscle Contraction Caused by Exposure to Hypertonic Solutions

The evidence supporting a site of inhibition of excitation contraction (E-C) coupling near the plasma membrane (the "glycerol effect," the K⁺-potentiating effect) for muscle in hypertonic solution was reinvestigated. It was found, using whole frog sartorii, that there was a rehydration of muscle soaked in glycerol Ringer after 30 min and a large swelling (to 140% after 1 hr soaking) upon return of the muscle to normal Ringer, suggesting that significant amounts of glycerol enter the fibers during this time. While contrary to the original report of the glycerol effect, this finding was consistent with other studies involving the use of single fibers. Also reexamined was the potentiating effect of K⁺ on the hypertonic inhibition of muscle contraction. It was found that muscles exposed to this KCl pretreatment swell so that they are less dehydrated in hypertonic solutions, thus accounting for the observed potentiation. After being treated instead with a K₂-tartrate Ringer solution, muscles did not swell and, as determined with twitch recordings, did not display any potentiation in hypertonic solutions—even though the [K₊] was higher than an osmotically equivalent KCl solution. The evidence was thus consistent with alternative hypotheses in which inhibition of contraction occurs at a later stage in E-C coupling or involves the contractile process itself.