New method for determining total calcium content in tissue applied to skeletal muscle with and without calsequestrin

We describe a new method for determining the concentration of total Ca in whole skeletal muscle samples ([Ca(T)](WM) in units of mmoles/kg wet weight) using the Ca-dependent UV absorbance spectra of the Ca chelator BAPTA (1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid). Muscle tissue was homogenized in a solution containing 0.15 mM BAPTA and 0.5% sodium dodecyl sulfate (to permeabilize membranes and denature proteins) and then centrifuged. The solution volume was adjusted so that BAPTA captured essentially all of the Ca. [Ca(T)](WM) was obtained with Beer’s law from the absorbance change produced by adding 1 mM EGTA to capture Ca from BAPTA. Results from mouse, rat, and frog muscles were reasonably consistent with results obtained using other methods for estimating total [Ca] in whole muscles and in single muscle fibers. Results with external Ca removed before determining [Ca(T)](WM) indicate that most of the Ca was intracellular, indicative of a lack of bound Ca in the extracellular space. In both fast-twitch (extensor digitorum longus, EDL) and slow-twitch (soleus) muscles from mice, [Ca(T)](WM) increased approximately linearly with decreasing muscle weight, increasing approximately twofold with a twofold decrease in muscle weight. This suggests that the Ca concentration of smaller muscles might be increased relative to that in larger muscles, thereby increasing the specific force to compensate for the smaller mass. Knocking out the high capacity Ca-binding protein calsequestrin (CSQ) did not significantly reduce [Ca(T)](WM) in mouse EDL or soleus muscle. However, in EDL muscles lacking CSQ, muscle weights were significantly lower than in wild-type (WT) muscles and the values of [Ca(T)](WM) were, on average, about half the expected WT values, taking into account the above [Ca(T)](WM) versus muscle weight relationship. Because greater reductions in [Ca(T)](WM) would be predicted in both muscle types, we hypothesize that there is a substantial increase in Ca bound to other sites in the CSQ knockout muscles.