Latrunculin B increases force fluctuation-induced relengthening of ACh-contracted, isotonically shortened canine tracheal smooth muscle

We hypothesized that differences in actin filament length could influence force fluctuation-induced relengthening (FFIR) of contracted airway smooth muscle and tested this hypothesis as follows. One-hundred micromolar ACh-stimulated canine tracheal smooth muscle (TSM) strips set at optimal reference length (L_ref) were allowed to shorten against 32% maximal isometric force (F_max) steady preload, after which force oscillations of ± 16% F_max were superimposed. Strips relengthened during force oscillations. We measured hysteresivity and calculated FFIR as the difference between muscle length before and after 20-min imposed force oscillations. Strips were relaxed by ACh removal and treated for 1 h with 30 nM latrunculin B (sequesters G-actin and promotes depolymerization) or 500 nM jasplakinolide (stabilizes actin filaments and opposes depolymerization). A second isotonic contraction protocol was then performed; FFIR and hysteresivity were again measured. Latrunculin B increased FFIR by 92.2 ± 27.6% L _ref and hysteresivity by 31.8 ± 13.5% vs. pretreatment values. In contrast, jasplakinolide had little influence on relengthening by itself; neither FFIR nor hysteresivity was significantly affected. However, when jasplakinolide-treated tissues were then incubated with latrunculin B in the continued presence of jasplakinolide for 1 more h and a third contraction protocol performed, latrunculin B no longer substantially enhanced TSM relengthening. In TSM treated with latrunculin B + jasplakinolide, FFIR increased by only 3.03 ± 5.2% L_ref and hysteresivity by 4.14 ± 4.9% compared with its first (pre-jasplakinolide or latrunculin B) value. These results suggest that actin filament length, in part, determines the relengthening of contracted airway smooth muscle.