THE ROLE OF EXTRACELLULAR IONS IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF MYONECROSIS INDUCED BY A MYOTOXIN ISOLATED FROM BROAD-BANDED COPPERHEAD (AGKISTRODON-CONTORTRIX-LATICINCTUS) VENOM

Pathological changes in murine skeletal muscle cells induced by ACL (Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus, Broad-Banded Copperhead) myotoxin in vivo were compared to pathological changes induced by an influx of Ca2+ and other ions into cut skeletal muscle cells in vitro in the absence of myotoxin. In vivo, ACL myotoxin induced a rapid myonecrosis characterized by densely clumped myofibrils in the cytoplasm. In vitro, this pathological change was not produced by incubating skeletal muscle cells in Ca2+ concentrations as high as 200 mM, whereas skeletal muscle cells incubated in concentrations of 150 mM and 300 mM NaCl contained densely clumped myofibrils similar in morphology to muscle cells damaged by ACL myotoxin in vivo. Treatments of 300 mM KCl did not produce densely clumped myofibrils in muscle cells. These results suggest that an influx of Na+, possibly through disrupted regions of sarcolemma, may be primarily responsible for the pathological changes, including clumped myofibrils, induced by ACL myotoxin in vivo. However, an influx of extracellular Ca2+ which has been proposed to produce densely clumped myofibrils in muscle cells damaged by other snake venom myotoxins, may not be responsible for this pathological change since extracellular Ca2+ concentrations much higher than physiological levels did not produce this change in skeletal muscle cells in vitro.