Inhibitory Action of High Formamide Concentrations on Excitation-contraction Coupling in Skeletal Muscle

Strips of guinea pig ileum lose over 70% of their contractility when bathed in Krebs-Ringer solution containing 0.4-0.9 M formamide (FMD). This effect is not accompanied by an appreciable loss of tissue water and is totally reversed by washing the preparation in normal solution. Frog sartorius muscles also paralyze when immersed in Ringer containing FMD, but higher concentrations (1.0-2.0 M) and longer exposure times are required. Contractility is not recovered upon transferring these muscles to normal Ringer. However, the contractile proteins still respond to activator calcium as shown by the fact that these muscles still contract in the presence of caffeine. The membrane of muscles uncoupled by FMD retain electrical excitability, and neuromuscular transmission appears to be unimpaired. However, alterations in the early after-potential of the spikes suggest the occurrence of a sarcotubular disruption. Therefore, FMD appears to exert two separate effects on muscle: a reversible inhibition of contractility, as observed in ileal strips and an irreversible blockade due to an osmotic shock observed when frog muscles are returned to normal Ringer. The reversible effect is probably related to interference with the availability of activator calcium, since no marked inhibitory effects on the activities of the actomyosin-like and the calcium-dependent and -independent ATPases could be observed on FMD-treated subcellular fractions.