scholarly journals The Contractile Properties of a Crab Respiratory Muscle

1987 ◽  
Vol 131 (1) ◽  
pp. 265-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT K. JOSEPHSON ◽  
DARRELL R. STOKES

1. Contraction of scaphognathite muscle L2B of the green crab Carcinus maenas is strongly dependent on stimulus number and frequency. Single, supramaximal stimuli evoke little or no tension. When stimulated with shocks in either short bursts (10 stimuli in 0.5s or less) or long bursts (5 s of stimulation), the isometric tension from the muscle increases with increasing stimulus frequency to a maximum at about 150 Hz at 15°C, beyond which tension declines with further increase in stimulus frequency. 2. There can be facilitation of both contraction and relaxation between short bursts of stimuli. Facilitation of contraction is seen as increasing tension on successive bursts of a series, even when the interburst interval is long enough for relaxation to be completed during the interval. Interburst facilitation lasts at least 10 s. Facilitation of relaxation is seen as progressively faster relaxation from burst to burst of a series, and relaxation to lower tension levels when the interburst interval is so short that relaxation is incomplete in the interburst interval. 3. Maximum isometric tension occurs at muscle lengths slightly longer than the longest muscle length reached in vivo. Tension declines rapidly with changes in muscle length away from the optimum length. The maximum isometric tension was about 12 N cm−2. 4. The maximum shortening velocity of a tetanically activated muscle was determined as 1.9 lengthss−1 (Ls−1) by extrapolation of force-velocity curves to zero force and 3.3 Ls−1 by slack test measurements. 5. The scaphognathite muscle would be classified as a slow or tonic muscle on the basis of its requirements for multiple stimulation to reach full activation, and as a moderately fast muscle on the basis of its force-velocity properties.

1994 ◽  
Vol 187 (1) ◽  
pp. 275-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Stokes ◽  
R Josephson

1. The flagella (small appendages on the maxillipeds) of the crab Carcinus maenas beat regularly when active at about 10 Hz (15 °C). The beat of a flagellum is due to contraction of a single small muscle, the flagellum abductor (FA). The optimal stimulus frequency for tetanic contraction of the FA was about 200 Hz. When the muscle was stimulated at 10 Hz with paired stimuli per cycle, the interstimulus interval that maximized peak force was 2­4 ms, which corresponded well to the interspike intervals within bursts recorded from motor axons during normal beating. 2. Contraction of the isolated FA showed pronounced neuromuscular facilitation and many stimuli were needed to activate the muscle fully. The dependence on facilitation in isolated muscles appeared to be greater than that in vivo. It is suggested that neuromodulators in the blood of the crab enhance neuromuscular transmission and reduce the dependency on facilitation in intact animals. 3. The FA had a narrow length­tension curve. Tetanic tension became vanishingly small at muscle lengths less than about 90 % of the maximum in vivo length. The maximum length change of the muscle during in vivo contraction was about 5 %. 4. The maximum isometric force of the FA was low (about 6 N cm-2) but its shortening velocity was high. Vm, the maximum shortening velocity determined from isotonic shortening, was 4.0 muscle lengths s-1; V0, the maximum shortening velocity from slack test measurements, was about 8 lengths s-1. 5. The structure and physiology of the FA are compared with those of locust flight muscle, chosen because it too is a muscle capable of long-duration, high-frequency performance.


1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (18) ◽  
pp. 2551-2565 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.K. Josephson ◽  
D.R. Stokes

Active shortening of respiratory muscle L2B from the crab Carcinus maenas results in contractile deactivation, seen as (1) a decline of force during the course of isovelocity shortening, (2) a reduction in the rate of force redevelopment following shortening, (3) a depression of the level of isometric force reached following shortening, and (4) an accelerated relaxation at the end of stimulation. The degree of deactivation increases with increasing distance of shortening, decreases with increasing shortening velocity, and is approximately linearly related to the work done during shortening. Deactivation lasts many seconds if stimulation is maintained, but is largely although not completely removed if the stimulation is temporarily interrupted so that the force drops towards the resting level. Deactivation for a given distance and velocity of shortening increases with increasing muscle length above the optimum length for force production. Stimulating muscle L2B at suboptimal frequencies gives tetanic contractions that are fully fused but of less than maximal amplitude. The depression of force following shortening, relative to the force during an isometric contraction, is independent of the stimulus frequency used to activate the muscle, indicating that deactivation is not a function of the background level of stimulus-controlled muscle activation upon which it occurs. Deactivation reduces the work required to restretch a muscle after it has shortened, but it also lowers the force and therefore the work done during shortening. The net effect of deactivation on work output over a full shortening/lengthening cycle is unknown.


1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (5) ◽  
pp. 593-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.K. Josephson ◽  
D.R. Stokes

Muscle force during active lengthening was characterized for scaphognathite levator muscle L2B from the crab Carcinus maenas. The muscle was tetanically stimulated and, during the peak of the contraction, stretched at constant velocity. The total strain was approximately 4 %, the strain rates ranged from 0.03 to 1.6 muscle lengths s-1 (L s-1), and the temperature was 15 degreesC. Force increased throughout stretch. During low-velocity stretch, up to approximately 0.3 L s-1, force rose during isovelocity stretch along an approximately exponential trajectory. The asymptotic force approached during the stretch increased and the time constant of the response decreased with increasing strain rate. With stretch at 0.6 L s-1 and greater, the force increased to a distinct yield point, reached after a strain of approximately 1 %, after which force continued to increase but with a slope approximately one-quarter as great as that before yield. Because force changes continuously during constant-velocity lengthening, the adequate descriptor for the force-velocity relationship in a lengthening crab muscle is not a two-dimensional force-velocity curve, but rather a three-dimensional force-velocity-time or force-velocity-strain surface. Stimulating muscle L2B at 20 Hz or 50 Hz gives a smoothly fused tetanic contraction in which muscle activation is only partial and the plateau force reached is less than that at the optimum stimulus frequency of approximately 100 Hz. The force-velocity relationships of a partially activated muscle are not simply those of a fully activated one scaled down in proportion to the reduction in the maximum isometric force. At low stretch velocities, the asymptotic force approached is larger in proportion to the pre-stretch isometric tension, and the time constant of the force increase is greater, in partially activated than in fully activated muscles. At high stretch velocities, the force at yield relative to the pre-stretch force, and the relative values of the slopes of the force increase before and after yield, are all greater in partially activated than in fully activated muscles, while the strain at yield is smaller.


1993 ◽  
Vol 265 (6) ◽  
pp. L549-L554 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Mitchell ◽  
I. M. Ndukwu ◽  
K. Arbetter ◽  
J. Solway ◽  
A. R. Leff

We studied the effect of either 1) immunogenic inflammation caused by aerosolized ovalbumin or 2) neurogenic inflammation caused by aerosolized capsaicin in vivo on guinea pig tracheal smooth muscle (TSM) contractility in vitro. Force-velocity relationships were determined for nine epithelium-intact TSM strips from ovalbumin-sensitized (OAS) vs. seven sham-sensitized controls and TSM strips for seven animals treated with capsaicin aerosol (Cap-Aer) vs. eight sham controls. Muscle strips were tethered to an electromagnetic lever system, which allowed isotonic shortening when load clamps [from 0 to maximal isometric force (Po)] were applied at specific times after onset of contraction. Contractions were elicited by supramaximal electrical field stimulation (60 Hz, 10-s duration, 18 V). Optimal length for each muscle was determined during equilibration. Maximal shortening velocity (Vmax) was increased in TSM from OAS (1.72 +/- 0.46 mm/s) compared with sham-sensitized animals (0.90 +/- 0.15 mm/s, P < 0.05); Vmax for TSM from Cap-Aer (0.88 +/- 0.11 mm/s) was not different from control TSM (1.13 +/- 0.08 mm/s, P = NS). Similarly, maximal shortening (delta max) was augmented in TSM from OAS (1.01 +/- 0.15 mm) compared with sham-sensitized animals (0.72 +/- 0.14 mm, P < 0.05); delta max for TSM from Cap-Aer animals (0.65 +/- 0.11 mm) was not different from saline aerosol controls (0.71 +/- 0.15 mm, P = NS). We demonstrate Vmax and delta max are augmented in TSM after ovalbumin sensitization; in contrast, neurogenic inflammation caused by capsaicin has no effect on isolated TSM contractility in vitro. These data suggest that airway hyperresponsiveness in vivo that occurs in association with immunogenic or neurogenic inflammation may result from different effects of these types of inflammation on airway smooth muscle.


1977 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
N M De Clerck ◽  
V A Claes ◽  
D L Brutsaert

Cellular cardiac preparations in which spontaneous activity was suppressed by EGTA buffering were isolated by microdissection. Uniform and reproducible contractions were induced by iontophoretically released calcium ions. No effects of a diffusional barrier to calcium ions between the micropipette and the contractile system were detected since the sensitivity of the mechanical performance for calcium was the same regardless of whether a constant amount of calcium ions was released from a single micropipette or from two micropipettes positioned at different sites along the longitudinal axis of the preparation. Force development, muscle length, and shortening velocity of eitherisometric or isotopic contractions were measured simultaneously. Initial length, and hence preload of the preparation were established by means of an electronic stop and any additional load was sensed as afterload. Mechanical performance was derived from force velocity relations and from the interrelationship between simultaneously measured force, length, and shortening velocity. From phase plane analysis of shortening velocity vs, instantaneous length during shortening and from load clamp experiments, the interrelationship between force, shortening, and velocity was shown to be independent of time during the major portion of shortening. Moreover, peak force, shortening, and velocity of shortening depended on the amount of calcium ions in the medium at low and high ionic strength.


1995 ◽  
Vol 198 (7) ◽  
pp. 1527-1538 ◽  
Author(s):  
D McLister ◽  
E D Stevens ◽  
J P Bogart

Isometric twitch and tetanus parameters, force-velocity curves, maximum shortening velocity (Vmax) and percentage relaxation between stimuli (%R) across a range of stimulus frequencies were determined for a muscle used during call production (the tensor chordarum) and a locomotor muscle (the sartorius) for three species of hylid frogs, Hyla chrysoscelis, H. versicolor and H. cinerea. The call of H. chrysoscelis has a note repetition rate (NRR) approximately twice as fast as the call of H. versicolor (28.3, 42.5 and 56.8 notes s-1 for H. chrysoscelis and 14.8, 21.1 and 27.4 notes s-1 for H. versicolor at 15, 20 and 25 degrees C, respectively). Hyla cinerea calls at a very slow NRR (Approximately 3 notes s-1 at 25 degrees C). Hyla versicolor evolved from H. chrysoscelis via autopolyploidy, so the mating call of H. chrysoscelis is presumably the ancestral mating call of H. versicolor. For the tensor chordarum of H. chrysoscelis, H. versicolor and H. cinerea at 25 degrees C, mean twitch duration (19.2, 30.0 and 52.9 ms, respectively), maximum isometric tension (P0; 55.0, 94.4 and 180.5 kN m-2, respectively), tetanic half-relaxation time (17.2, 28.7 and 60.6 ms, respectively) and Vmax (4.7, 5.2 and 2.1 lengths s-1, respectively) differed significantly (P &lt; 0.05) among all three species. The average time of tetanic contraction to half-P0 did not differ significantly between H. chrysoscelis (14.5 ms) and H. versicolor (15.8 ms) but was significantly longer for H. cinerea (52.6 ms). At 25 degrees C, Vmax differed significantly among the sartorius muscles of H. chrysoscelis, H. versicolor and H. cinerea (5.2, 7.0 and 9.8 lengths s-1, respectively) but mean twitch duration (29.5, 32.2 and 38.7 ms, respectively), P0 (252.2, 240.7 and 285.1 kN m-2, respectively) and tetanic half-relaxation time (56.3, 59.5 and 60.7 ms, respectively) did not differ significantly. The average time of contraction to half-P0 did not differ significantly between H. chrysoscelis (23.7 ms) and H. versicolor (22.9 ms) but was significantly shorter for H. cinerea (15.6 ms). The only consistent contractile differences found in this study between the calling muscle and locomotor muscle of H. chrysoscelis, H. versicolor and H. cinerea were that the calling muscles generated less tension and their force-velocity relationship was much more linear. These differences may be attributable to ultrastructural differences between calling and locomotor muscles.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


2002 ◽  
Vol 282 (4) ◽  
pp. C835-C844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon J. Lutz ◽  
Shashank R. Sirsi ◽  
Sarah A. Shapard-Palmer ◽  
Shannon N. Bremner ◽  
Richard L. Lieber

The myosin heavy chain (MHC) and myosin light chain (MLC) isoforms in skeletal muscle of Rana pipiens have been well characterized. We measured the force-velocity (F- V) properties of single intact fast-twitch fibers from R. pipiens that contained MHC types 1 or 2 (MHC1 or MHC2) or coexpressed MHC1 and MHC2 isoforms. Velocities were measured between two surface markers that spanned most of the fiber length. MHC and MLC isoform content was quantified after mechanics analysis by SDS-PAGE. Maximal shortening velocity ( V max) and velocity at half-maximal tension ( V P 50) increased with percentage of MHC1 (%MHC1). Maximal specific tension (Po/CSA, where Po is isometric tension and CSA is fiber cross-sectional area) and maximal mechanical power ( W max) also increased with %MHC1. MHC concentration was not significantly correlated with %MHC1, indicating that the influence of %MHC1 on Po/CSA and W max was due to intrinsic differences between MHC isoforms and not to concentration. The MLC3-to-MLC1 ratio was not significantly correlated with V max, V P 50, Po/CSA, or W max. These data demonstrate the powerful relationship between MHC isoforms and F- V properties of the two most common R. pipiensfiber types.


1992 ◽  
Vol 73 (5) ◽  
pp. 2105-2111 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. T. Ameredes ◽  
W. F. Brechue ◽  
G. M. Andrew ◽  
W. N. Stainsby

The force-velocity (F-V) relationships of canine gastrocnemius-plantaris muscles at optimal muscle length in situ were studied before and after 10 min of repetitive isometric or isotonic tetanic contractions induced by electrical stimulation of the sciatic nerve (200-ms trains, 50 impulses/s, 1 contraction/s). F-V relationships and maximal velocity of shortening (Vmax) were determined by curve fitting with the Hill equation. Mean Vmax before fatigue was 3.8 +/- 0.2 (SE) average fiber lengths/s; mean maximal isometric tension (Po) was 508 +/- 15 g/g. With a significant decrease of force development during isometric contractions (-27 +/- 4%, P < 0.01, n = 5), Vmax was unchanged. However, with repetitive isotonic contractions at a low load (P/Po = 0.25, n = 5), a significant decrease in Vmax was observed (-21 +/- 2%, P < 0.01), whereas Po was unchanged. Isotonic contractions at an intermediate load (P/Po = 0.5, n = 4) resulted in significant decreases in both Vmax (-26 +/- 6%, P < 0.05) and Po (-12 +/- 2%, P < 0.01). These results show that repeated contractions of canine skeletal muscle produce specific changes in the F-V relationship that are dependent on the type of contractions being performed and indicate that decreases in other contractile properties, such as velocity development and shortening, can occur independently of changes in isometric tension.


1992 ◽  
Vol 262 (4) ◽  
pp. C1039-C1046 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Pate ◽  
M. Lin ◽  
K. Franks-Skiba ◽  
R. Cooke

We have measured the isometric tension and force-velocity relationships of glycerinated rabbit slow-twitch semimembranosus muscle as a function of MgATP concentration ([MgATP]) and have compared the results with those obtained previously from fast-twitch psoas muscle. We find that isometric tension decreases as [MgATP] increases. The magnitude of the decrease is not as great as observed in psoas. Maximum shortening velocity (Vmax) exhibits classical Michaelian saturation behavior with respect to [MgATP] with a Michaelis constant (Km) for half-maximal velocity of 18 microM and a value at saturating [MgATP] of 0.6 muscle lengths/s. Similar values were observed in fibers from soleus, another slow-twitch muscle. The corresponding values in rabbit psoas muscle are 150 microM and 1.6 lengths/s. Compared with psoas, in semimembranosus muscle Km decreases by a factor of approximately 10, whereas Vmax decreases by about a factor of 3. Thus, although in a nonphysiological regime, at low [MgATP], a "fast" muscle actually has a lower shortening velocity than a "slow" muscle.


1985 ◽  
Vol 248 (5) ◽  
pp. H729-H736 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. S. Fein ◽  
B. Miller-Green ◽  
E. H. Sonnenblick

Diabetes mellitus may lead to congestive heart failure in humans, independent of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. Previous studies have explored the myocardial effects of chronic diabetes in dogs and rats with somewhat divergent results. Therefore the current study examined papillary muscle function in rabbits made diabetic with 140-150 mg/kg intravenous alloxan compared with that of age-matched controls. The period of diabetes was 3 days (study 1), 1 mo (study 2), 3 mo (study 3), and 6 mo (study 4). The duration of isometric and isotonic contraction and relaxation were markedly prolonged in diabetes from studies 2, 3, and 4. Shortening velocity was diminished in diabetics from studies 1, 3, and 4. A blunted inotropic response to increasing stimulus frequency was observed in diabetics. Changes in resting tension were not consistently observed, suggesting that passive muscle stiffness is not altered. These findings indicate that previous work on diabetic rats can be extended to diabetic rabbits and suggest that chronic diabetes diminishes contractility and prolongs the duration of contraction in mammalian hearts.


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