Journal
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY
Volume 122, Issue 3, Pages 541-559Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00421-021-04863-6
Keywords
Skeletal muscle; Regulatory volume increase; Regulatory volume decrease; Muscle ion transport; History of exercise
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Skeletal muscle cells can undergo volume changes during exercise and rest, regulated by different mechanisms for volume decrease and increase. These volume changes can affect the strength of muscle activity and signaling processes, indicating that cell volume may be a regulated variable in skeletal muscle cells. Muscles contracting at moderate to high intensity gain intracellular volume while non-contracting muscles lose cell volume, influenced by changes in osmolality.
Skeletal muscle cells can both gain and lose volume during periods of exercise and rest. Muscle cells do not behave as perfect osmometers because the cell volume changes are less than predicted from the change in extracellular osmolality. Therefore, there are mechanisms involved in regulating cell volume, and they are different for regulatory volume decreases and regulatory volume increases. Also, after an initial rapid change in cell volume, there is a gradual and partial recovery of cell volume that is effected by ion and water transport mechanisms. The mechanisms have been studied in non-contracting muscle cells, but remain to be fully elucidated in contracting muscle. Changes in muscle cell volume are known to affect the strength of contractile activity as well as anabolic/catabolic signaling, perhaps indicating that cell volume should be a regulated variable in skeletal muscle cells. Muscles contracting at moderate to high intensity gain intracellular volume because of increased intracellular osmolality. Concurrent increases in interstitial (extracellular) muscle volume occur from an increase in osmotically active molecules and increased vascular filtration pressure. At the same time, non-contracting muscles lose cell volume because of increased extracellular (blood) osmolality. This review provides the physiological foundations and highlights key concepts that underpin our current understanding of volume regulatory processes in skeletal muscle, beginning with consideration of osmosis more than 200 years ago and continuing through to the process of regulatory volume decrease and regulatory volume increase.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available