Muscle fiber capacity in low conductivity solution

1976 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Loo ◽  
P. C. Vaughan
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Muscle Fiber ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Circuit Theory ◽  
Frog Muscle ◽  
Constant Current ◽  
Effective Capacity ◽  
Injection Technique ◽  
Length Constant ◽  
Per Se

A method is described for computing the effective capacity of muscle fibers, C = Q/V where Q is the charge stored, and V is the membrane potential, using a standard two-microelectrode, constant current injection technique. The method is used to compare physical (or effective) capacity of frog muscle fibers bathed in a low conductivity, 2.5 mM K+ solution, with circuit-theory derived quantities in the same cells and in control fibers. No differences can be discerned and it is concluded that low conductivity of physiological solutions, per se, does not significantly reduce the length constant of frog muscle transverse tubules.

scholarly journals Double Sucrose-Gap Method Applied to Single Muscle Fiber of Xenopus laevis

1974 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigehiro Nakajima ◽  
Joseph Bastian
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Properties ◽  
Action Potential ◽  
Muscle Fiber ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Membrane Conductance ◽  
Frog Muscle ◽  
Muscle Twitch ◽  
Sucrose Gap ◽  
Isotonic Shortening

Passive electrical properties (internal conductance, membrane conductance, low frequency capacity, and high frequency capacity obtained from the foot of the action potential) of normal and glycerol-treated muscle of Xenopus were determined with the intracellular microelectrode technique. The results show that the electrical properties of Xenopus muscle are essentially the same as those of frog muscle. Characteristics of the action potential of Xenopus muscle were also similar to those of frog muscle. Twitch tension of glycerol-treated muscle fibers of Xenopus recovered partially when left in normal Ringer for a long time (more than 6 h). Along with the twitch recovery, the membrane capacity increased. Single isolated muscle fibers of Xenopus were subjected to the double sucrose-gap technique. Action potentials under the sucrose gap were not very different from those obtained with the intracellular electrode, except for the sucrose-gap hyperpolarization and a slight tendency toward prolongation of the shape of action potential. Twitch contraction of the artificial node was recorded as a change of force from one end of the fiber under the sucrose gap. From the time-course of the recorded force and the sinusoidal stress-strain relationship at varying frequencies of the resting muscle fiber, the time-course of isotonic shortening of the node was recovered by using Fourier analysis. It was revealed that the recorded twitch force can approximately be regarded as isotonic shortening of the node.

scholarly journals Graded Activation in Frog Muscle Fibers

1973 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 424-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. L. Costantin ◽  
S. R. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Voltage Clamp ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Frog Muscle ◽  
Single Muscle ◽  
Fiber Cross Section ◽  
Striation Spacing ◽  
Velocity Of Shortening ◽  
Electrode Voltage

The membrane potential of frog single muscle fibers in solutions containing tetrodotoxin was controlled with a two-electrode voltage clamp. Local contractions elicited by 100-ms square steps of depolarization were observed microscopically and recorded on cinefilm. The absence of myofibrillar folding with shortening to striation spacings below 1.95 µm served as a criterion for activation of the entire fiber cross section. With depolarizing steps of increasing magnitude, shortening occurred first in the most superficial myofibrils and spread inward to involve axial myofibrils as the depolarization was increased. In contractions in which the entire fiber cross section shortened actively, both the extent of shortening and the velocity of shortening at a given striation spacing could be graded by varying the magnitude of the depolarization step. The results provide evidence that the degree of activation of individual myofibrils can be graded with membrane depolarization.

scholarly journals The Suppression of the Late After-Potential in Rubidium-Containing Frog Muscle Fibers

1965 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1003-1010 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Hellam ◽  
D. A. Goldstein ◽  
L. D. Peachey ◽  
W. H. Freygang
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Potassium Concentration ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Frog Muscle ◽  
Muscle Membrane ◽  
Potassium Permeability ◽  
Intracellular Potassium ◽  
Intracellular Potassium Concentration

The late after-potential that follows trains of impulses in frog muscle fibers is virtually absent when most of the intracellular potassium is replaced by rubidium and the muscle is immersed in rubidium-containing Ringer's fluid. Its amplitude is also reduced in freshly dissected, potassium-containing muscle fibers that are immersed directly in Rb-Ringer's fluid. These findings are discussed in terms of the model for muscle membrane of Adrian and Freygang (1962 a, b) and in relation to the report of Adrian (1964) that Rb-containing muscle fibers do not exhibit the variations in potassium permeability as a function of membrane potential that are found in fibers with normal intracellular potassium concentration immersed in Ringer's fluid.

Stabilization and rectification of muscle fiber membrane by tetrodotoxin

1960 ◽  
Vol 198 (5) ◽  
pp. 934-938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshio Narahashi ◽  
Takehiko Deguchi ◽  
Norimoto Urakawa ◽  
Yoshio Ohkubo
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Fiber ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Membrane Resistance ◽  
Frog Muscle ◽  
Resting Potential ◽  
Fiber Membrane ◽  
Delayed Rectification ◽  
Intracellular Microelectrodes ◽  
Cathodal Current ◽  
Muscle Fiber Membrane

The mode of action of tetrodotoxin on the frog muscle fiber membrane has been analyzed with the aid of intracellular microelectrodes. Tetrodotoxin of 10–7 concentration made the applied cathodal current ineffective in producing action potential, whereas the resting potential and resting membrane resistance underwent little or no change. With 10–8 tetrodotoxin the muscle fibers responded with the small action potentials at high critical depolarizations. These results can be explained on the basis of the membrane being stabilized by inactivation of the sodium-carrying mechanism. Although delayed rectification was not observed in normal muscle fibers, it became apparent in the fibers rendered inexcitable by tetrodotoxin. This finding, together with other evidence in the existing literature, supports an applicability of the sodium theory to the frog muscle fibers.

scholarly journals The Influence of Sodium-Free Solutions on the Membrane Potential of Frog Muscle Fibers

1963 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. J. Mullins ◽  
K. Noda
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Activity Coefficients ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Frog Muscle ◽  
Sartorius Muscle ◽  
Coupling Ratio ◽  
Nernst Equation ◽  
Ringer’S Solution ◽  
Na Efflux ◽  
Frog Sartorius

The membrane potential of frog sartorius muscle fibers in a Cl- and Na-free Ringer's solution when sucrose replaces NaCl is about the same as that in normal Ringer's solution. The K+ efflux is also about the same in the two solutions but muscles lose K and PO4 in sucrose Ringer's solutions. The membrane potential in sucrose Ringer's solution is equal to that given by the Nernst equation for a K+ electrode, when corrections are made for the activity coefficients for K+ inside and outside the fiber. For a muscle in normal Ringer's solution, the measured membrane potential is within a few millivolts of EK. This finding is incompatible with a 1:1 coupled Na-K pump. It is consistent with either no coupling of Na efflux to K influx, or a coupling ratio of 3 or greater.

scholarly journals The Mechanism of Dual Responsiveness in Muscle Fibers of the Grasshopper Romalea microptera

1959 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Cerf ◽  
H. Grundfest ◽  
G. Hoyle ◽  
Frances V. McCann
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Muscle Fiber ◽  
Refractory Period ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Fiber Membrane ◽  
Graded Responses ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
Graded Activity ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Stimulation Of

Dually innervated Romalea muscle fibers which respond differently to stimulation of their fast and slow axons are excited by intracellularly applied depolarizing stimuli. The responses, though spike-like in appearance, are graded in amplitude depending upon the strength of the stimuli and do not exceed about 30 mv. in height. In other respects, however, these graded responses possess properties that are characteristic of electrically excitable activity: vanishingly brief latency; refractoriness; a post-spike undershoot. They are blocked by hyperpolarizing the fiber membrane; respond repetitively to prolonged depolarization, and are subject to depolarizing inactivation. As graded activity, these responses propagate decrementally. The fast and slow axons of the dually responsive muscle fibers initiate respectively large and small postsynaptic potentials (p.s.p.'s) in the muscle fiber. These responses possess properties that characterize electrically inexcitable depolarizing activity. They are augmented by hyperpolarization and diminished by depolarization. Their latency is independent of the membrane potential. They have no refractory period, thus being capable of summation. The fast p.s.p. evokes a considerable or maximal electrically excitable response. The combination, which resembles a spike, leads to a twitch-like contraction of the muscle fiber. The individual slow p.s.p.'s elicit no or only little electrically excitable responses, and they evoke slower smaller contractile responses. The functional aspects of dual responsiveness and the several aspects of the theoretical importance of the gradedly responsive, electrically excitable component are discussed.

scholarly journals Length-dependent electromechanical coupling in single muscle fibers.

1976 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 653-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
A M Gordon ◽  
E B Ridgway
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Calcium Release ◽  
Muscle Fibers ◽  
Membrane Properties ◽  
Constant Current ◽  
Equilibrium Potential ◽  
Muscle Membrane ◽  
Single Muscle ◽  
Fiber Membrane ◽  
Length Dependence

In single muscle fibers from the giant barnacle, a small decrease in muscle length decreases both the calcium activation and the peak isometric tension produced by a constant current stimulus. The effect is most pronounced if the length change immediately precedes the stimulation. In some cases, the decrease in tension with shortening can be accounted for almost entirely by a decrease in calcium release rather than changes in mechanical factors such as filament geometry. During the constant current stimulation the muscle membrane becomes more depolarized at longer muscle lengths than at the shorter muscle lengths. Under voltage clamp conditions, when the membrane potential is kept constant during stimulation, there is little length dependence of calcium release. Thus, the effect of length on calcium release is mediated through a change in membrane properties, rather than an effect on a subsequent step in excitation-contraction coupling. Stretch causes the unstimulated fiber membrane to depolarize by about l mV while release causes the fiber membrane to hyperpolarize by about the same amount. The process causing this change in potential has an equilibrium potential nearly 10 mV hyperpolarized from the resting level. This change in resting membrane potential with length may account for the length dependence of calcium release.

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