Repeated force production and metabolites in two medial gastrocnemius muscle compartments of the rat

1995 ◽  
Vol 79 (6) ◽  
pp. 1855-1861 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. De Ruiter ◽  
A. De Haan ◽  
A. J. Sargeant

The most proximal and distal motor nerve branches in the rat medial gastrocnemius innervate discrete muscle compartments dominated by fast-twitch oxidative and fast-twitch glycolytic fibers, respectively. The functional consequences of the difference in oxidative capacity between these compartments were investigated. Wistar rats were anesthetized with pentobarbital sodium (90 mg/kg ip). Changes in force of both compartments during 21 isometric contractions (train duration 200 ms, stimulation frequency 120 Hz, 3 s between contractions) were studied in situ with and without blood flow. Without blood flow, force and phosphocreatine declined to a greater extent in the proximal than the distal compartment compared with the run with intact flow. After the protocol without blood flow, when flow was restored, the time constants for force recovery (which were closely associated to the recovery of phosphocreatine) were 37 +/- 7 (SD) (proximal compartment) and 148 +/- 20 s (distal compartment). It was concluded that the proximal compartment had a four times higher oxidative capacity and, therefore, a superior ability for repeated force production.

1979 ◽  
Vol 236 (5) ◽  
pp. C185-C191 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Petrofsky ◽  
A. R. Lind

By use of a method of sequential stimulation described previously, the ability to sustain tensions of 3--100% of the initial strength (maximum isometric tension that could be developed in the fresh muscle) to fatigue (endurance) was assessed in the soleus (slow-twitch), medial gastrocnemius (mixed, fast-twitch), and plantaris (mainly fast-twitch) muscles. For all fractions of the initial strength the endurance was longest in soleus and shortest in plantaris. However, although plantaris fatigued at any tension examined, soleus could maintain a tension of up to 30% of its initial strength indefinitely with no sign of fatigue. Part of the difference in endurance between these two muscles could be accounted for in terms of blood flow because arterial occlusion sharply reduced the endurance of soleus but had only a small effect on endurance in plantaris. However, even with an occluded circulation, soleus still had substantially longer endurance than either medial gastrocnemius or plantaris. The origin of fatigue in any of the three muscles examined appeared to be in the muscle; there was no evidence of failure of transmission at the neuromuscular junction.


1983 ◽  
Vol 245 (2) ◽  
pp. H265-H275 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. G. Mackie ◽  
R. L. Terjung

Blood flow to fast-twitch red (FTR), fast-twitch white (FTW), and slow-twitch red (STR) muscle fiber sections of the gastrocnemius-plantaris-soleus muscle group was determined using 15 +/- 3-microns microspheres during in situ stimulation in pentobarbital-anesthetized rats. Steady-state blood flows were assessed during the 10th min of contraction using twitch (0.1, 0.5, 1, 3, and 5 Hz) and tetanic (7.5, 15, 30, 60, and 120/min) stimulation conditions. In addition, an earlier blood flow determination was begun at 3 min (twitch series) or at 30 s (tetanic series) of stimulation. Blood flow was highest in the FTR (220-240 ml X min-1 X 100 g-1), intermediate in the STR (140), and lowest in the FTW (70-80) section during tetanic contraction conditions estimated to coincide with the peak aerobic function of each fiber type. These blood flows are fairly proportional to the differences in oxidative capacity among fiber types. Further, their absolute values are similar to those predicted from the relationship between blood flow and oxidative capacity found by others for dog and cat muscles. During low-frequency contraction conditions, initial blood flow to the FTR and STR sections were excessively high and not dependent on contraction frequency. However, blood flows subsequently decreased to values in keeping with the relative energy demands. In contrast, FTW muscle did not exhibit this time-dependent relative hyperemia. Thus, besides the obvious quantitative differences between skeletal muscle fiber types, there are qualitative differences in blood flow response during contractions. Our findings establish that, based on fiber type composition, a heterogeneity in blood flow distribution can occur within a whole muscle during contraction.


1996 ◽  
Vol 75 (6) ◽  
pp. 2243-2254 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. DeRuiter ◽  
A. De Haan ◽  
A. J. Sargeant

1. The effect of muscle unit (MU) localization on physiological properties was investigated within the fast-twitch fatigue-resistant (FR) and fast-fatigable (FF) MU populations of rat medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscle. Single MG MUs were functionally isolated by microdissection of the ventral roots. FR and FF MU properties of the most proximal and distal muscle compartments were compared. The most proximal and distal compartment are subvolumes of the MG innervated by the most proximal and distal primary nerve branch, respectively. A subsample of the isolated units was glycogen depleted and muscle cross sections were stained for glycogen and myosin-adenosinetriphosphatase. 2. It was shown that proximal FF and FR units reached optimum length for force production at shorter muscle lengths compared with the distal FR and FF units. 3. The fast MUs of the proximal compartment had small territories that were located close to and/or within the mixed region (containing type I, IIA, IIX, and IIB fibers) of the muscle. The fast MUs of the distal compartment had greater territories that were located in the more superficial muscle part (containing only type IIX and IIB fibers) and in some cases spanned the entire area of the distal muscle compartment. 4. FR and FF MUs consisted of muscle fibers identified histochemically as type IIX and IIB, respectively. 5. Within each of the FR and FF MU populations, MUs that were located in the most proximal muscle compartment were more resistant to fatigue compared with the units located in the most distal compartment. 6. Cross-sectional fiber areas were smaller for the proximal FR and FF fibers, but specific force did not differ among units. Consequently, when account was taken of the innervation ratio, the proximal FR and FF units produced less force than distal units of the same type. Tetanic forces were 87 +/- 27 (SD) mN (proximal FR), 154 +/- 53 (SD) mN (distal FR), 142 +/- 25 (SD) mN (proximal FF), and 229 +/- 86 (SD) mN (distal FF). 7. The present findings suggest that with increasing demand placed on rat MG during in vivo locomotion, recruitment is likely to proceed from proximal to distal muscle parts within the FR and FF MU populations.


1987 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 834-839 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. F. Hobbs ◽  
D. I. McCloskey

In anesthetized cats reducing local arterial pressure from 125 to 75 Torr decreased blood flow (53 +/- 5%) and force production (57 +/- 7%) in soleus and medial gastrocnemius. Force was produced in these muscles by aerobic, slowly fatiguing fibers. Similar reductions in arterial pressure did not affect force production in caudofemoralis, which contains mainly fast-fatiguing fibers. In human subjects the electromyogram produced by the ankle extensors during rhythmic constant-force contractions increased as the contracting muscles were raised above the heart during legs-up tilt. This suggests that force production of active muscle fibers at a given level of activation fell with muscle perfusion pressure, thus requiring augmentation of muscle activity to sustain the standard contractions. Because aerobic fibers contributed to these contractions, it appears that force production of human muscle fibers is sensitive to small changes in perfusion pressure and, presumably, blood flow. The critical dependence of developed muscular force on blood pressure is of importance to motor control and may also play a significant role in cardiovascular control during exercise.


1981 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 493-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Petrofsky ◽  
C. A. Phillips ◽  
M. N. Sawka ◽  
D. Hanpeter ◽  
D. Stafford

The muscle blood flow, oxygen uptake, carbon dioxide production, muscle and blood lactate, muscle ATP, creatinine phosphate, glycogen, and venous pH were measured in the soleus (a slow-twitch muscle) and the medial gastrocnemius (a fast-twitch muscle) of the cat during fatiguing isometric exercise. Five tensions were examined: 10, 25, 50, 75, and 100% of the initial strength of the muscles (tetanic tension of the unfatigued muscle). Contractions were either sustained to fatigue or, for tensions of 10 and 25% initial strength of the soleus muscle, were sustained for 3 min. Analysis of the blood flow and metabolites from these muscles showed that the soleus was heavily dependent on its blood supply, using aerobic metabolism as the predominant pathway, whereas the medial gastrocnemius muscle seemed to use anaerobic metabolism even at low isometric tensions.


2003 ◽  
Vol 81 (11) ◽  
pp. 1072-1082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy A Bamford ◽  
Gary D Lopaschuk ◽  
Ian M MacLean ◽  
Marcia L Reinhart ◽  
Walter T Dixon ◽  
...  

The present study examined the effects of chronic activation of 5'-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) on the oxidative capacity and myosin heavy chain (MHC) based fibre phenotype of rodent fast- and slow-twitch muscles. Sprague–Dawley rats received daily injections for 4 weeks of the known AMPK activator 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide-1-β-D-ribofuranoside (AICAR) or vehicle (control). The AICAR group displayed increases in hexokinase-II (HXK-II) activity, expression, and phosphorylation in fast-twitch muscles (P < 0.001) but not in the slow-twitch soleus (SOL). In the AICAR group, citrate synthase (EC 4.1.3.7) and 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA-dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.35) were elevated 1.6- and 2.1-fold (P < 0.05), respectively, in fast-twitch medial gastrocnemius (MG), and by 1.2- and 1.4-fold (P < 0.05) in the slower-twitch plantaris (PLANT). No changes were observed in the slow-twitch SOL. In contrast, the activity of glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.12) remained unchanged in all muscles. AICAR treatment did not alter the MHC-based fibre type composition in fast- or slow-twitch muscles, as determined by immunohistochemical and electrophoretic analytical methods or by RT–PCR. We conclude that chronic activation of AMPK mimics the metabolic changes associated with chronic exercise training (increased oxidative capacity) in the fast-twitch MG and PLANT, but does not coordinately alter MHC isoform content or mRNA expression.Key words: AMP-activated protein kinase, myosin heavy chain, metabolism, RT–PCR, SDS–PAGE.


2002 ◽  
Vol 92 (5) ◽  
pp. 1808-1816 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Aaker ◽  
M. H. Laughlin

The sympathetic nervous system has greater influence on vascular resistance in low-oxidative, fast-twitch skeletal muscle than in high-oxidative skeletal muscle (17). The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that arterioles isolated from low-oxidative, fast-twitch skeletal muscle [the white portion of gastrocnemius (WG)] possess greater responsiveness to adrenergic constriction than arterioles isolated from high-oxidative skeletal muscle [red portion of the gastrocnemius muscle (RG) and diaphragm (Dia)]. Second-order arterioles (2As) were isolated from WG, RG, and Dia of rats and reactivity examined in vitro. Results reveal that Dia 2As constrict less to norepinephrine (NE) (10−9 to 10 −4 M) than 2As from RG and WG, which exhibited similar NE-induced constrictions. This difference was not endothelium dependent, because responses of denuded 2As were similar to those of intact arterioles. The blunted NE-induced constrictor response of Dia 2As appears to be the result of differences in α1-receptor effects because 1) arterioles from Dia also responded less to selective α1-receptor stimulation with phenylephrine than RG and WG arterioles; 2) arterioles from Dia, RG, and WG dilated similarly to isoproterenol (10−9 to 10−4 M) and did not respond to selective α2-receptor stimulation with UK-14304; and 3) endothelin-1 produced similar constriction in 2As from Dia, RG, and WG. We conclude that differences in oxidative capacity and/or fiber type composition of muscle tissue do not explain different NE responsiveness of Dia 2As compared with 2As from gastrocnemius muscle. Differences in α1-adrenergic constrictor responsiveness among arterioles in skeletal muscle may contribute to nonuniform muscle blood flow responses observed during exercise and serve to maintain blood flow to Dia during exercise-induced increases in sympathetic nerve activity.


2011 ◽  
Vol 301 (3) ◽  
pp. R783-R790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley J. Behnke ◽  
Robert B. Armstrong ◽  
Michael D. Delp

The influence of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) upon vascular resistance is more profound in muscles comprised predominately of low-oxidative type IIB vs. high-oxidative type I fiber types. However, within muscles containing high-oxidative type IIA and IIX fibers, the role of the SNS on vasomotor tone is not well established. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of sympathetic neural vasoconstrictor tone in muscles composed of different fiber types. In adult male rats, blood flow to the red and white portions of the gastrocnemius (GastRed and GastWhite, respectively) and the soleus muscle was measured pre- and postdenervation. Resistance arterioles from these muscles were removed, and dose responses to α1-phenylephrine or α2-clonidine adrenoreceptor agonists were determined with and without the vascular endothelium. Denervation resulted in a 2.7-fold increase in blood flow to the soleus and GastRed and an 8.7-fold increase in flow to the GastWhite. In isolated arterioles, α2-mediated vasoconstriction was greatest in GastWhite (∼50%) and less in GastRed (∼31%) and soleus (∼17%); differences among arterioles were abolished with the removal of the endothelium. There was greater sensitivity to α1-mediated vasoconstriction in the GastWhite and GastRed vs. the soleus, which was independent of whether the endothelium was present. These data indicate that 1) control of vascular resistance by the SNS in high-oxidative, fast-twitch muscle is intermediate to that of low-oxidative, fast-twitch and high-oxidative, slow-twitch muscles; and 2) the ability of the SNS to control blood flow to low-oxidative type IIB muscle appears to be mediated through postsynaptic α1- and α2-adrenoreceptors on the vascular smooth muscle.


2010 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 278-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. S. Yu ◽  
H. van Duinen ◽  
S. C. Gandevia

In humans, hand performance has evolved from a crude multidigit grasp to skilled individuated finger movements. However, control of the fingers is not completely independent. Although musculotendinous factors can limit independent movements, constraints in supraspinal control are more important. Most previous studies examined either flexion or extension of the digits. We studied differences in voluntary force production by the five digits, in both flexion and extension tasks. Eleven healthy subjects were instructed either to maximally flex or extend their digits, in all single- and multidigit combinations. They received visual feedback of total force produced by “instructed” digits and had to ignore “noninstructed” digits. Despite attempts to maximally flex or extend instructed digits, subjects rarely generated their “maximal” force, resulting in a “force deficit,” and produced forces with noninstructed digits (“enslavement”). Subjects performed differently in flexion and extension tasks. Enslavement was greater in extension than in flexion tasks ( P = 0.019), whereas the force deficit in multidigit tasks was smaller in extension ( P = 0.035). The difference between flexion and extension in the relationships between the enslavement and force deficit suggests a difference in balance of spillover of neural drive to agonists acting on neighboring digits and focal neural drive to antagonist muscles. An increase in drive to antagonists would lead to more individualized movements. The pattern of force production matches the daily use of the digits. These results reveal a neural control system that preferentially lifts fingers together by extension but allows an individual digit to flex so that the finger pads can explore and grasp.


2010 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 705-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrés Hernández ◽  
Matthew L. Goodwin ◽  
Nicola Lai ◽  
Marco E. Cabrera ◽  
James R. McDonald ◽  
...  

The purpose of this research was to develop new techniques to 1) rapidly sample venous O2 saturation to determine contraction-by-contraction oxygen uptake (V̇o2), and 2) precisely control the rate and pattern of blood flow adjustment from one chosen steady state to another. An indwelling inline oximeter probe connected to an Oximetrix 3 meter was used to sample venous oxygen concentration ([O2]) (via fractional saturation of Hb with O2). Data from the Oximetrix 3 were filtered, deconvolved, and processed by a moving average second by second. Computer software and a program written in-house were used to control blood flow with a peristaltic pump. The isolated canine gastrocnemius muscle complex (GS) in situ was utilized to test these techniques. A step change in metabolic rate was elicited by stimulating GS muscles via their sciatic nerves (supramaximal voltage, 8 V; 50 Hz, 0.2-ms pulse width; train duration 200 ms) at a rate of either 1 contraction/2 s, or 2 contractions/3 s. With arterial [O2] maintained constant, blood flow and calculated venous [O2] were averaged over each contraction cycle and used in the Fick equation to calculate contraction-by-contraction V̇o2. About 5–8 times more data points were obtained with this method compared with traditional manual sampling. Software-controlled pump perfusion enabled the ability to mimic spontaneous blood flow on-kinetics (τ: 14.3 s) as well as dramatically speed (τ: 2.0 s) and slow (τ: 63.3 s) on-kinetics. These new techniques significantly improve on existing methods for mechanistically altering blood flow kinetics as well as accurately measuring muscle oxygen consumption kinetics during transitions between metabolic rates.


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