title: Dependence of the work done by ATP-induced actin-myosin sliding on the initial baseline force: its implications for kinetic properties of myosin heads in muscle contraction.
abstract: The properties of the ATP-dependent actin-myosin sliding responsible for muscle contraction was studied using an in vitro force-movement assay system, in which a myosin-coated glass microneedle was made to slide on actin filament arrays (actin cables) in the giant algal cell with iontophoretic application of ATP. With a constant amount of ATP application, the amount of work done by the actin-myosin sliding increased with increasing baseline force from zero to 0.4-0.6 Po, and then decreased with further increasing baseline force, thus giving a bell-shaped work versus baseline force relation. The result that the maximum actin-myosin sliding velocity did not change appreciably with increasing baseline force up to 0.4-0.6 Po implies, together with the limited number of myosin heads involved, that (1) the rate of power output of actin-myosin sliding is determined primarily by the amount of external load rather than the velocity of actin-myosin sliding, and (2) the bell shaped work versus baseline force relation (and also the hyperbolic force-velocity relation) results from the kinetic properties of individual myosin head rather than the change in the number of myosin heads involved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sugi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oiwa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chaen
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D007478:Iontophoresis; D007700:Kinetics; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D009218:Myosins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D009218:Myosins