What is latch? New ideas about tonic contraction in smooth muscle.
Smooth muscles have traditionally been classified as phasic or tonic, the tonic muscles being those which maintain a steady tension indefinitely with a low consumption of energy. Until ten years ago it was considered that the differences between smooth muscle types reflected different innervation or excitation-contraction coupling. However, recent work makes it clear that the contractile apparatus itself is adapted in tonic muscles.
Marston
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SB
National Heart and Lung Institute, London.
D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000502:physiology*; D009131:Muscle, Smooth, Vascular / Q000502:physiology*; D009218:Myosins / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation
D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins; D009218:Myosins; D002118:Calcium