The skeletal muscle dihydropyridine receptor (DHPR) and ryanodine receptor (RyR1) are known to engage a form of conformation coupling essential for muscle contraction in response to depolarization, referred to as excitation-contraction coupling. Here we use WT and Ca V 1.1 null (dysgenic) myotubes to provide evidence for an unexplored RyR1-DHPR interaction that regulates the transition of the RyR1 between gating and leak states. Using doublebarreled Ca 2+ -selective microelectrodes, we demonstrate that the lack of Ca V 1.1 expression was associated with an increased myoplasmic resting [Ca 2+ ] ([Ca 2+ ] rest ), increased resting sarcolemmal Ca 2+ entry, and decreased sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca 2+ loading. Pharmacological control of the RyR1 leak state, using bastadin 5, reverted the three parameters to WT levels. The fact that Ca 2+ sparks are not more frequent in dysgenic than in WT myotubes adds support to the hypothesis that the leak state is a conformation distinct from gating RyR1s. We conclude from these data that this orthograde DHPR-to-RyR1 signal inhibits the transition of gated RyR1s into the leak state. Further, it suggests that the DHPR-uncoupled RyR1 population in WT muscle has a higher propensity to be in the leak conformation. RyR1 leak functions are to keep [Ca 2+ ] rest and the SR Ca 2+ content in the physiological range and thus maintain normal intracellular Ca 2+ homeostasis.L-type calcium channel | resting calcium I n skeletal muscle the free cytosolic Ca 2+ concentration at rest ([Ca 2+ ] rest ) is ≈120 nM, and the concentration found in the extracellular space and in intracellular stores is in the millimolar range (1). This enormous chemical gradient of Ca 2+ ions is crucial because all of the Ca 2+ signaling processes in living cells are based in spatial and temporally controlled Ca 2+ transients (2). Understanding how cells maintain cytoplasmic Ca 2+ homeostasis at [Ca 2+ ] rest under normal and pathophysiological conditions can provide essential information about muscle disorders, including muscular dystrophies (3), central core disease/ malignant hyperthermia (4, 5), and inclusion body myositis (6, 7).It is currently thought that the sarco-endoplasmic Ca 2+ ATPase, the plasma membrane Ca 2+ ATPase, and the Ca 2+ /Na + exchanger of the plasma membrane regulate the myoplasmic Ca 2+ concentration in skeletal muscle (2,8). However, it has also been demonstrated that resting sarcolemmal Ca 2+ entry and "passive" sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR)-Ca 2+ leak are working simultaneously, opposing mechanisms that exclude Ca 2+ from the cytosol. As a result the homeostatic [Ca 2+ ] rest is set by a fine and complex equilibrium among influx and efflux pathways regulating Ca 2+ ions (9-13).The physical coupling between the dihydropyridine receptor (DHPR) and the ryanodine receptor (RyR1) is essential for skeletal excitation-contraction coupling, engaging a form of bidirectional signaling. During orthograde signaling, sarcolemmal depolarization elicits conformational changes in Ca V 1.1 that are ph...