Ca2+ sparks are the elementary units of intracellular Ca2+ signaling in striated muscle cells revealed as localized Ca2+ release events from sarcoplasmic reticulum(SR)by confocal microscopy.While Ca2+ sparks are well defined in cardiac muscle,there has been a general belief that these localized Ca2+ release events are rare in intact adult mammalian skeletal muscle.Several laboratories determined that Ca2+ sparks in mammalian skeletal muscle could only be observed in large numbers when the sarcolemmal membranes are permeabilized or the SR Ca2+ content is artificially manipulated,thus the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of Ca2+ sparks in skeletal muscle remain largely unexplored.Recently,we discovered that membrane deformation generated by osmotic stress induced a robust Ca2+ spark response confined in close spatial proximity to the sarcolemmal membrane in intact mouse muscle fibers.In addition to Ca2+ sparks,prolonged Ca2+ transients, termed Ca2+ bursts, are also identified in intact skeletal muscle.These induced Ca2+ release events are reversible and repeatable,revealing a plastic nature in young muscle fibers.In contrast, induced Ca2+ sparks in aged muscle are transient and cannot be re-stimulated.Dystrophic muscle fibers display uncontrolled Ca2+ sparks,where osmotic stress-induced Ca2+ sparks are not reversible and they are no longer spatially restricted to the sarcolemmal membrane.An understanding of the mechanisms that underlie generation of osmotic stressinduced Ca2+ sparks in skeletal muscle and how these mechanisms are altered in pathology, will contribute to our understanding of the regulation of Ca2+ homeostasis in muscle physiology and pathophysiology.