AGING AND CHLORIDE CHANNEL REGULATION IN RAT FAST-TWITCH MUSCLE-FIBERS

By the use of pharmacological tools, we tested the hypothesis that age-related alterations in the regulatory pathways of chloride channels might contribute to the lowered chloride conductance (G(C1)) found in skeletal muscle of aged rats. The resting G(C1) of extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles from adult rats either young (3-4 months old) or aged (29 months old) was measured by means of computerized intracellular microelectrode recordings. In EDL muscle from 3 to 4-month-old rats, 4-beta-phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate (4-beta-PDB), a direct activator of protein kinase C (PKC), decreased G(C1) in a concentration-dependent manner. The same effect was exerted by cholera toxin. The effects of both the phorbol ester and cholera toxin were inhibited by staurosporine, thus indicating that either direct or indirect (via G protein) activation of PKC accounts for the decrease of G(C1). An increase of cytosolic Ca2+ by the ionophore A23187 also significantly decreased G(C1) by 25%. In EDL muscles from aged rats, 4-beta-PDB was 20-fold more potent in blocking G(C1) than in muscles from younger controls, and the ionophore blocked G(C1) by 40%. On the other hand, cholera toxin was ineffective. Our findings support the hypothesis that in fast-twitch muscle the regulation of chloride channels by PKC and Ca2+ is a target of the aging process.