Broadband Electrical Spectroscopy to Distinguish Single-Cell Ca2+ Changes Due to Ionomycin Treatment in a Skeletal Muscle Cell Line,2023 Ferguson et a

Abstract:
Many skeletal muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophy, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and sarcopenia share the dysregulation of calcium (Ca2+) as a key mechanism of disease at a cellular level.

Cytosolic concentrations of Ca2+ can signal dysregulation in organelles including the mitochondria, nucleus, and sarcoplasmic reticulum in skeletal muscle. In this work, a treatment is applied to mimic the Ca2+ increase associated with these atrophy-related disease states, and broadband impedance measurements are taken for single cells with and without this treatment using a microfluidic device.

The resulting impedance measurements are fitted using a single-shell circuit simulation to show calculated electrical dielectric property contributions based on these Ca2+ changes. From this, similar distributions were seen in the Ca2+ from fluorescence measurements and the distribution of the S-parameter at a single frequency, identifying Ca2+ as the main contributor to the electrical differences being identified.

Extracted dielectric parameters also showed different distribution patterns between the untreated and ionomycin-treated groups; however, the overall electrical parameters suggest the impact of Ca2+-induced changes at a wider range of frequencies.

https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/23/9/4358

 

"Many skeletal muscle diseases such as muscular dystrophy, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and sarcopenia share the dysregulation of calcium (Ca2+) as a key mechanism of disease at a cellular level"

The only supporting reference for this seems to be Morris & Maes "Mechanisms Explaining Muscle Fatigue and Muscle Pain in Patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" SchHub full version: https://sci-hub.se/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11926-017-0628-x This source seems to offer no actual evidence re: dysregulation of calcium.