Effects of the PKA inhibitor H-89 on excitation-contraction coupling in skinned and intact skeletal muscle fibres

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of the protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor, H-89, in mechanically-skinned muscle fibres and intact muscle fibres, in order to determine whether PKA phosphorylation is essential for normal excitation - contraction (E-C) coupling. In skinned EDL fibres of the rat, force responses to depolarization (by ion substitution) were inhibited only slightly by 10 μM H-89, a concentration more than sufficient to fully inhibit PKA. Staurosporine (1 μM), a potent non-specific kinase inhibitor, also had little if any effect on depolarization-induced responses. At 1-2 μM, H-89 significantly slowed the repriming rate in rat skinned fibres, most likely due to it deleteriously a..