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TEMPERATURE AND FEVER
1University of Florida, Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, Gainesville, Florida; and 2The Ohio State University, The Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Columbus Ohio
Submitted 16 May 2008 ; accepted in final form 26 August 2008
| ABSTRACT |
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diaphragm; lipoxygenase; cyclooxygenase; phospholipase A2; heat stress
In previous work, our laboratory observed that exposing skeletal muscle to 42°C resulted in increases in both intracellular and extracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) (66). Similar elevations in ROS production during heat stress have been made in a variety of tissues (26, 61) and in whole animals (30), but the functional significance of these findings is not well known. Recently, van der Poel and Stephenson (57) have shown that at elevated temperatures (43–47°C), contractile function was disrupted in isolated rat extensor digitorum longus muscle fibers, a largely fast twitch muscle. ROS were implicated because treatment with DTT, a thiol (-SH) reducing agent, or by Tiron, an antioxidant eliminated or greatly diminished the effects of high temperature on contractile force. However, no such effects of antioxidants were observed in a small group of more oxidative fibers from the peroneus longus muscle (57). Therefore, a second objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that ROS formed during heat are responsible for the loss of contractile function in an intact muscle with a fiber population that is largely oxidative, namely the isolated diaphragm.
The cell membrane is believed to be particularly sensitive to the effects of temperature and has been described as the "temperature transducer" of the cell (4). In a number of isolated cell systems, as temperature increases to 42°C or above, there is a rapid release of AA, through the action of PLA2 on the membrane phospholipids (12). This suggests membrane repair or remodeling activities are ongoing. Since AA is further metabolized by LOX, COX, and cytochrome P-450 enzymes, it is likely that these enzymes also play significant roles in normal membrane responses to hyperthermia. Interestingly, these pathways may also be responsible for some fraction of oxidant production at high temperatures. In previous work, inhibition of global LOX activity almost completely inhibited the extracellular ROS formed during heat exposure (65). Therefore, we hypothesized that by blocking LOX and possibly other pathways of eicosanoid metabolism, we might protect skeletal muscle function during heat exposure and possibly inhibit oxidative stress at the same time.
In summary, this study had three objectives: 1) to determine the functional responses to brief heat exposure in isolated, relatively intact, and largely oxidative skeletal muscle, where other variables such as blood flow, central neural responses to heat, neuromuscular activation, or whole body inflammation are not present; 2) to test the hypothesis that increased oxidant production in heat stress is responsible for the loss of contractile function in intact muscle tissue; and 3) to evaluate the role of eicosanoid metabolism, specifically catalyzed by lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase, on the loss of contractile function in hyperthermia.
| METHODS |
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Statistical analysis. Statistical significance was analyzed using ANOVA, designed for each experimental protocol. Treatment and temperature were used as factors of interest in most studies. Data were expressed as a percentage of maximum baseline force. The effects of animal, i.e., specific experiment on matched tissues were treated as a random variable, resulting in the equivalent of a repeated-measures design. Post hoc analyses (Dunnett's) were done to determine specific effects of treatment from control measurements. Mean contrasts after ANOVA were used in some experiments to compare sample means in complex designs (SASJMP statistical package). All results are reported as means ± SE; P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.
| RESULTS |
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Effects of antioxidants and reducing agents on contractile function with heat exposure. To test the hypothesis that the loss of contractile function during heat stress is due to the effects of increased oxidant production, diaphragms were exposed to 43°C in the presence of antioxidants, Tiron (1, 10, and 20 mM) and Trolox (50 µM, 100 µM, and 1 mM) (Fig. 2). The intermediate dose of Tiron (10 mM) was shown in previous studies to be effective in preserving contractile function during hypoxia (63), and the maximum dose (20 mM) was previously used by van der Poel and Stephenson (57). The lowest dose of Trolox (50 µM) approximated the concentration shown by Betters et al. (7) to reduce oxidant stress in the diaphragm in the whole animal, whereas the highest dose has been shown to be effective in reducing oxidant production in isolated myotubes (64). Contrary to expectations, no effects of these antioxidants on the heat-induced loss of contractile force were observed, although there was a significant reduction in force at the highest concentration of Trolox. There were also no improvements in function during the recovery period in antioxidant-treated tissues (data not shown).
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Effects of lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase inhibition on heat tolerance to 42°C. On the basis of the results of the previous experiment, we hypothesized that LOX and possibly other eicosanoid metabolic pathways are important components of the normal heat tolerance mechanisms of skeletal muscle. To test this hypothesis, we exposed diaphragm strips to the highest temperature that does not cause significant loss of contractile function (42°C, Fig. 1A) and evaluated the effects of LOX and COX inhibition (Fig. 4).
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%Max Force ± 1.4, ETYA, –15
%Max Force ± 4.0), indicating no measurable pharmacological effects. The decrease in function occurred in a dose-dependent manner and resulted in the greatest loss of function at 200 µM during 42°C heat exposure. Like the influence of heat exposure alone, recovery of function was not observed in these tissues (data not shown). These results suggest that functional LOX activity may be an important factor for heat tolerance in skeletal muscle at 42°C.
A parallel experiment was done using COX inhibition. Since COX also metabolizes AA, it was logical to think that this pathway may also affect heat tolerance at 42°C. The addition of indomethacin at (50, 100, and 200 µM) resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in maximum contractile force during exposure to 42°C. Likewise, ibuprofen (9), given at 200, 400, and 800 µM resulted in a dose-dependent loss in heat tolerance at 42°C (Fig. 4B), whereas the time controls showed no effect on contractile function (indomethacin, –2.1
%Max Force ± 2.3, ibuprofen, –6.9
%Max Force ± 1.9). Both drugs had qualitatively similar effects, but at these doses, they did not decrease force to the extent that LOX inhibition did. Interestingly, recovery data showed that loss of function at 42°C in the presence of COX inhibition resulted in partial but modest recovery of force over 30 min (data not shown).
To determine whether the influences of LOX and COX during heat exposure had overlapping or additive effects, we inhibited both enzymes simultaneously (see the online supplement for this article), using baicalein (100 µM) and indomethacin (100 µM) in the same muscle tissue at 42°C. A small loss in function was observed in pharmacological controls done at 37°C (–25.1
%Max Force ± 4.6; see the online version of the this article), but a much larger effect was seen at 42°C. Compared with all other drugs, the combination of the two drugs resulted in the greatest loss in function and suggests that the two enzyme systems do not have overlapping effects but rather that their influence is likely additive.
Treatment with LOX and COX inhibitors resulted in an increase in baseline passive force during 42°C exposure as well (Fig. 4, C and D). ETYA, baicalein, indomethacin, and ibuprofen showed a dose-dependent increase in baseline passive force with baicalein having the greatest impact.
Effects of inhibition of upstream PLA2. On the basis of the preceding studies, we hypothesized that the role of LOX and COX in heat exposure might be simply to metabolize and therefore reduce the concentration of free AA and other lipid products created at elevated temperatures that could be detrimental to function. If so, then by blocking upstream PLA2 alone, we might cause a reduction of heat-induced contractile function at 43°C. To block iPLA2, a Ca2+-independent PLA2 (iPLA2) inhibitor, bromoenol lactone (BEL) was used. Previous work has demonstrated that BEL targets functional iPLA2, which has been shown to be present in skeletal muscle (iPLA2) (28). Control experiments showed a pharmacological effect of 20 µM BEL at 37°C. At 1 and 10 µM, however, there were no significant effects at 43°C, but at 20 µM, a significant decrease in function was observed (Fig. 5A). We accredited this decrease at the highest dose to be, in part, a nonspecific pharmacological effect.
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Tests for membrane damage in heat stress. On the basis of the sensitivity of contractile function to elevated temperatures and particularly to enzymes known to be involved with maintenance of membrane function, we hypothesized that the loss of contractile function in heat stress may reflect a subpopulation of fibers within the intact muscle that have lost membrane integrity. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated the integrity of the sarcolemmal membrane using procion orange leakage into diaphragm cells (32). Examples of the kinds of results from this experiment are shown in Fig. 6. No additional leakage was observed in response to heat stress alone (43°C). However, significant leakage was observed when muscles were incubated with both indomethacin and baicalein at 43°C (17.35% positive cells ± 1.37, n = 6) compared with control (0.45% positive cells ± 0.21, n = 6). Muscles incubated with indomethacin and baicalein at 37°C showed no significant increase in permeability (2.37% positive cells ± 0.71, n = 6) compared with both 43°C (2.32% positive cells ± 0.91, n = 6) and 37°C (0.45% positive cells ± 0.21, n = 6) controls.
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| DISCUSSION |
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Critique of approach. Though it is unlikely that the diaphragm would ever attain temperatures much above body core temperature in hyperthermia, this model is useful as an intact, oxidative skeletal muscle preparation for the purposes of this study. We have little reason to believe that results would differ substantially from oxidative limb muscle, and in essence, our work substantiates results seen in isolated single oxidative limb muscle fibers exposed to heat (57). O2 delivery is always a concern in nonperfused, intact preparations, but since the muscles were not fatigued or exercised intensely during the protocol, it is unlikely that the results can be attributed to differences in oxygen delivery. A 9% reduction in O2 solubility occurs between 37°C and 43°C, and equivalent reductions in PO2 have little effect on rat diaphragm contractile function (unpublished observation; Clanton T. L.) or on NADH autofluorescence (67), an indicator of tissue hypoxia. Although pharmacological approaches were used to evaluate the influence of enzymes involved with eicosanoid metabolism, as well as ROS scavenging, we attempted to account for possible nonspecific pharmacological effects of these drugs by 1) studying their influence on time controls at 37°C, 2) by studying dose response curves, and 3) by using multiple drugs that often worked by chemically divergent methods. This approach revealed a significant adverse pharmacological reaction to NDGA, a commonly used LOX inhibitor; confirming recent studies in vitro and in vivo (34, 38).
Mechanisms for the loss of contractile function. The results show that there is a critical temperature, between 42 and 43°C, in which there is a marked loss of contractile function within 30 min. This is also the range of temperatures generally required for induction of heat shock proteins (HSPs) (43), rapid increases in membrane permeability for small molecular weight molecules (8), and reduced survival in many mammalian in vitro cell types (20). The absolute value of the critical temperature is also, no doubt, a reflection of the duration of heat exposure, as loss of contractile function (57), as well as tissue injury, reviewed by Despa et al. (21), are both time and temperature dependent. The underlying biochemical mechanisms responsible for this critical temperature phenomenon are unknown, but most research points to accumulating alterations in protein structure, membrane integrity, or oxidative stress, as discussed below.
Although the activity of most enzymes increases as a function of their temperature coefficients (Q10), it is generally held that protein configuration changes at some critical and protein-specific temperature, thereby decreasing activity or interfering with protein-protein interactions. Temperature-induced protein misfolding, exposure of hydrophobic moities, or degradation have traditionally been the primary mechanisms attributed to HSP induction in hyperthermia, as reviewed by Kim et al. (35). Although degradation is possible at these temperatures, there is little evidence for it in isolated proteins, as studies have shown that temperatures >50°C are generally needed for denaturation (21). Many investigations have attributed protein degradation to a secondary effect of increased oxidant formation during hyperthermia, (e.g., 52), which may be a common mechanism.
Acute hyperthermia also increases membrane fluidity (4) and is known to disrupt membrane microdomains, such as lipid rafts and the interaction of the membrane with associated channels, proteins, and cytoskeleton (41). Heat-induced changes in the biophysical properties of membranes can also result in alterations in water (48) or solute (8) permeability that could have secondary effects on membrane potential, action potential propagation, or contractile function. For example, swelling of muscle fibers, which has been shown to occur in cells at high temperature, could potentially have an influence on the lattice structure of the contractile machinery, and thus reduce force development (51).
Skeletal muscle hyperthermia has also been shown to cause elevations in ROS production (61, 66), but their complex role is not completely understood. Van der Poel and Stephenson (57) reported that in rat extensor digitorum longus muscle, a fast nonoxidative fiber, loss of maximum Ca2+-activated force during heat could be blocked by cotreatment with the antioxidant Tiron (20 mM). In addition, it could be reversed after heat exposure with 20 mM DTT. Interestingly, these investigators saw no such effects of Tiron in more oxidative fibers from the limb muscle (peroneus longus). Our results for the diaphragm are essentially in agreement with the studies of the peroneus (57), presumably because the rat diaphragm is only 3.5% type IIb fast fibers (25). In addition, we tested for the influence of multiple doses of DTT and Trolox. Trolox is a soluble vitamin E analog and a general antioxidant and has previously been shown to be effective in intact diaphragm, protecting it from oxidative damage induced by mechanical ventilation (7) or from secondary oxidant effects of TNF (31). None of these agents were effective at concentrations equal to or much higher than those previously shown to be effective in diaphragm preparations (7, 23, 31, 63). Therefore, our results, taken together, with those of van der Poel and Stephenson (57) are most consistent with the hypothesis that oxidant production is not the main causative factor for the loss of contractile function in oxidative fibers. Because oxidative fibers are rich in mitochondria, which are believed to be a primary source of ROS in pathological conditions, these conclusions seem, indeed, paradoxical.
It is of physiological interest that the FF relationship was relatively unchanged between 37°C and 42°C. Since large shifts of FF to the right occur as temperature increases from 23°C to 37°C, we expected to see a continuation of this behavior above 37°C. The fact that tetanic force at all frequencies remains relatively constant suggests that skeletal muscle has an inherent mechanism for control of muscle force for a given neural activation within a temperature range that corresponds to the range seen in heavy exercise. How it could do this with varying rates of biochemical reactions (Q10) is a mystery but would function to ensure continuity of motor control during exercise in hyperthermia.
Mechanisms for changes in passive force during heat exposure. Another mechanical effect of heat exposure was an increase in passive tension (contracture) during 43°C exposure or at 42°C when drugs affecting eicosanoid metabolism were present. In all cases, the elevation in passive force was rapidly reversed during 37°C recovery, during which time the loss of contractile function did not reverse. There are at least two possible reasons for this phenomenon: first, resting cytosolic calcium concentration could increase during heat stress, thus activating the contractile machinery at low levels. To our knowledge, intracellular Ca2+ has not been measured in hyperthermic skeletal muscle. However, an increase in passive tension has been attributed to elevations in [Ca2+] based on indirect observations that diaphragms with RyR1 mutations associated with malignant hyperthermia have greater heat-induced contracture than wild-type diaphragms (17). Also, elevated temperature has been shown to increase Ca2+ leakage from the SR, via an oxidant-dependent mechanism (58), though this would not necessarily result in elevated cytosolic calcium if the SR Ca2+ ATPase continued to function appropriately.
A second possibility is a mechanism that has been demonstrated in glycerinated fibers at high temperature by Ranatunga et al. (50), which is due to non-Ca2+-activated cross-bridge cycling. This is believed to reflect the heat-induced inactivation of the steric hindrance normally blocking cross-bridge interaction in the absence of Ca2+ (27). Interestingly, in all experiments, the observations of significant elevations in passive force were accompanied by proportional losses of maximum contractile function. This suggests that understanding the mechanism for elevation in passive force may provide future insights into the mechanisms for loss of maximum stimulated force. However, at this time, the mechanism is not clear in this muscle fiber population.
LOX, COX, and PLA2 involvement during heat stress. Very little is known about the functional roles of eicosanoid metabolism in skeletal muscles, even during normothermic conditions, though literature is emerging. With regard to COX, skeletal muscle cells contain both COX-1 and COX-2, and both of these enzymes are present in oxidative and nonoxidative muscle fibers, as well as in surrounding vessels (55). The primary products produced are prostaglandin PGE2 and TxB2, with considerably more PGE2 being formed (55). Although there is some evidence that products formed by COX can modestly affect contractile function (55), their primary roles in physiology are not known. COX products are able to cause vasodilation or vasoconstriction, depending on which product is produced in higher amounts (15), and it is possible that this balance between products may be altered during heat stress. Thus, it is also possible that production of COX products in heat stress could affect heat dispersal mechanisms by influencing conductance of surrounding vessels. This assumes they are capable of paracrine signaling in this tissue. COX has also been found to be potentially important in the regulation of HSPs (6), as PGA2, an enzymatic dehydration product of PGE2, appears important for HSP70 expression over 4–8 h and for activation of c-fos and Egr-1 stress genes within 30 min. This process occurs by a mechanism involving increases in intracellular Ca2+ (18).
Even less is known about lipoxygenases in skeletal muscle. LOXs are nonheme iron-containing oxygenases that take polyenoic fatty acids (such as AA) and enzymatically oxygenate them into hydroperoxy-polyenoic fatty acids (53). Zuo et al. (65) found immunohistochemical evidence of both 5-LOX and 12-LOX in diaphragm cells, staining predominantly along the sarcolemma of smaller, presumably oxidative fibers. There are a variety of products made from lipoxygenases and associated downstream enzymes, including the leukotrienes and HETEs, and these are known to have a multitude of functions in immune responses, inflammation, and control of smooth muscle contraction. However, the roles of LOX in normal membrane remodeling, breakdown of subcellular organelles, and cell differentiation may be of equal or greater importance in many cells (36). Blocking global LOX activity, even at normal temperatures, greatly decreases extracellular ROS production and has no effect on intracellular superoxide formation in diaphragm muscle in heat exposure (65). Recent evidence suggests that HETEs, leukotrienes, AA, and other eicosanoid products can directly bind and interact with numerous intracellular proteins, including cytoskeleton components associated with the contractile machinery (10). Such lipid-protein interactions are believed to be important in normal regulatory processes of the cell, such as water balance across the cell membrane (44) and GLUT4 translocation to the muscle cell membrane (56).
No mechanisms have been described that could fully account for the effects of LOX and/or COX inhibition on contractile function during hyperthermia. However, several mechanisms are of potential significance. One working hypothesis is that inhibition of any important AA metabolic pathway could allow AA to accumulate in the cell to toxic levels during hyperthermia. Temperatures of 42–45°C are known to cause rapid increases in AA release and prostaglandin synthesis in cell systems (12) and AA alone has been shown to stimulate oxidant formation (24), to activate calcium channels (40), to disrupt the sarcolemmal Ca2+-ATPase (13), and to activate the mitochondrial transition pore (22, 49). The sarcolemmal Ca2+-ATPase denaturation temperature has been found to shift according to the concentration of free fatty acids in the cytosol (40). Therefore, by these mechanisms, blockage of any pathway that allows AA to accumulate in the cell could potentially result in cell dysfunction. A second, related idea is that LOX and COX inhibitors can sometimes act as prooxidants. This is a controversial area because most of the pharmacological agents used in this study have been shown to be chemical antioxidants by this laboratory (65) and others, e.g., baicalein (47), ETYA (54), indomethacin (46), and ibuprophen (19). Nevertheless, there is abundant evidence, particularly in intact tissues or cells, that any of these agents can also act as prooxidants under certain conditions, e.g., baicalein (62), ETYA (3), indomethacin (5) and ibuprophen (39). Since many in vitro chemical studies have ascribed these agents as having antioxidant activities, it could be that frequent observations of oxidant reactions in more intact preparations is secondary to the oxidative effects of accumulating AA. With this in mind, it is possible that application of any eicosanoid enzyme inhibitor could induce an AA-mediated oxidant stress, superimposed over any damage caused by hyperthermia alone.
To test the possibility that AA accumulation could be responsible, we attempted to reduce AA formation during 43°C heat stress by inhibiting PLA2 with the calcium-independent PLA2 (specific iPLA2) inhibitor, BEL, as well as by a general cPLA2 and iPLA2 inhibitor, AACOCF3. Though not studied extensively, isoforms of iPLA2 are highly expressed in skeletal muscle cell lines (28) with negligible Ca2+-dependent PLA2 being expressed. The specificity of BEL has been found to be 1,000-fold greater for iPLA2 compared with the cPLA2 (33) and has been used extensively in muscle (29, 42). AACOCF3 has been reported to inhibit both cPLA2 and iPLA2 at the concentrations used (1). However, contrary to our hypothesis, neither BEL nor AACOCF3 administration protected muscle function in 43°C hyperthermia. The highest concentration of BEL contributed to a further decline in function at 43°C, although this could have been due, in part, to a pharmacological effect that showed up even at 37°C control experiments (Fig. 5). The results for PLA2 inhibition by BEL and AACOCF3 do not necessarily disprove the hypothesis that AA accumulation is responsible for the toxic effects of LOX and COX inhibition. However, it lends some credence to an alternative hypothesis that LOX and COX activity or products from their activity are somehow necessary for normal responses to hyperthermia.
Finally, it is possible that the effects of each of the eicosanoid enzyme inhibitors may represent nonspecific toxic effects that are minimally evident at normal temperatures but are accentuated at
42°C. The extreme effects at 43°C and the apparent added insult on muscle membrane integrity (Fig. 6) could represent an additive effect from the toxicity of the drugs at high temperature and direct effects of extreme heat. They may, therefore, be unrelated phenomena. The only circumstantial evidence that would counter this argument is that the same basic observation was seen with a variety of different drugs at a variety of doses, which, in some cases, are within the therapeutic range in humans. It would seem unlikely that we would observe such a uniform toxicity unless it was directly related to the normal physiology of hyperthermia.
Conclusions. These results support the concept that skeletal muscles have an inherent thermotolerance within the range of temperatures they are likely to experience during intense exercise. However, during extreme conditions, in which the body cannot adequately maintain thermal equilibrium, they are susceptible to loss of function. Furthermore, our results concur with those of van der Poel and Stephenson (57), in that there may be a unique phenotypic response of oxidative skeletal muscles that is not true of fast fibers, i.e., their loss of function may not be related to oxidant production and may not be rapidly reversible with time. Finally, we have demonstrated that, at least in oxidative diaphragm muscles, normal thermotolerance is dependent on an intact network of eicosanoid metabolic machinery.
Perspectives and Significance
We hypothesize that thermotolerance may be another important function of eicosanoid enzyme activity that has largely gone unrecognized. Hyperthermia can affect all cells and essentially all integrative systems within the body and comprises one of the most primordial environmental stresses driving evolutionary diversity. Although we studied one tissue in isolation in this study, we speculate that eicosanoid metabolism may play a large role in thermal adaptation in many other tissues, beyond its better-known influences on local vascular regulation and as a mediator of inflammatory cascades. It is also possible that alterations in gene expression of eicosanoid enzymes, secondary to disease, chronic inflammation, or drug treatment could make tissues more or less vulnerable to heat injury. Future studies are needed to discover the extent of involvement of eicosanoid metabolism in regulation of normal skeletal muscle function, the hyperthermic tolerance of other tissues of the body, and in the overall integrative responses to exertional hyperthermia and environmental heat exposure. Discovering links between eicosanoid metabolism and hyperthermia could create new therapies and treatment paradigms for heat-related illnesses that have the potential of improving thermal tolerance in athletes, soldiers, first-responders, and other vulnerable populations, such as the elderly and very young.
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| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
| REFERENCES |
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acts via TNFR1 and muscle-derived oxidants to depress myofibrillar force in murine skeletal muscle. J Appl Physiol 104: 694–699, 2008.This article has been cited by other articles:
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N. Place, T. Yamada, S.-J. Zhang, Håk. Westerblad, and J. D. Bruton High temperature does not alter fatigability in intact mouse skeletal muscle fibres J. Physiol., October 1, 2009; 587(19): 4717 - 4724. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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