Effect of axoplasmic transport on the mechanism responsible for maintenance of cell volume in rat skeletal muscles

The effect of colchicine, a drug impairing fast axoplasmic flow, on the ability of muscle fibers to recover their volume after dehydration in a hypertonic medium, was studied in experiments on rat diaphragm. It was found that the ability of the muscle fibers to maintain their volume in a hyperosmolar medium depends on the effect of trophic factors transferred to the muscle by the axonic flow. Elimination of this effect by blocking the axoplasmic transport with colchicine impairs the ability of active chloride transport to be enhanced following an increase in the muscle osmotic pressure, which results in the loss of the muscle fiber's capability to maintain stable content of intracellular water in a hypertonic medium.Neirofiziologiya/Neurophysiology, Vol. 26, No. 5, pp. 323–325, September–October, 1994.