Muscular contraction: kinetics of crossbridge attachment studied by high-frequency stiffness measurements.
Instantaneous stiffness of frog skeletal muscle, an indication of the proportion of attached crossbridges, was determined drug the tetanus rise and after a step length change imposed during the tetanus plateau. During the onset of contraction as well as after a step, the ratio of stiffness to force differed from that determined during the tetanus plateau. The data after a step are predicted by the Huxley-Simmons model of muscular contraction, but the results during the rise suggest that a long-lived state may exist between crossbridge attachment and force generation.
D000818:Animals; D008433:Mathematics; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D009132:Muscles / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011896:Rana temporaria