Stability of muscle fibers on the descending limb of the force-length relation. A theoretical consideration

Allinger, Todd L.; Epstein, Marcelo; Herzog, Walter

doi:10.1016/0021-9290(95)00087-9

Cited by 57 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Here, we observed small, but consistent, force enhancement on the ascending limb of the force-length relationship in single fibres. This result implies that sarcomere length non-uniformities may develop on the ascending portion of the force-length relationship, in contrast to what has been found experimentally (Julian and Morgan, 1979b;Morgan, 1990Morgan, , 1994, and has been predicted theoretically (Allinger et al, 1996).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 64%

“…This theory states that force enhancement following active muscle/fibre stretching is associated with the development of non-uniformities in sarcomere lengths (e.g. Julian and Morgan, 1979b;Zahalak, 1997;Morgan et al, 2000), and that these non-uniformities are caused by sarcomere length instability (Hill, 1953;Gordon et al, 1966) that occurs on the negative slope of the force-length relationship, the descending limb, but not the positive slope, the ascending limb of the force-length relationship (e.g., Hill, 1953;Allinger et al, 1996). However, it has been shown that stretch-induced, steadystate force in single skeletal muscle fibres can exceed the isometric force at optimal length.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the so-called ascending limb of the force-length relationship (Edman et al, 1978(Edman et al, , 1982Julian and Morgan, 1979b). Rather, force enhancement has been thought to occur only on the so-called descending limb of the force-length relationship, a region in which the active isometric force decreases with increasing muscle/fibre length (Abbott and Aubert, 1952;Edman et al, 1978Edman et al, , 1982Julian and Morgan, 1979b;Herzog and Leonard, 2000), and in which sarcomere lengths are assumed to be unstable (Hill, 1953) and nonuniform in length (Julian and Morgan, 1979b;Morgan, 1990Morgan, , 1994Allinger et al, 1996). Therefore, force enhancement has been associated frequently with the occurrence of instability and the associated non-uniformities in sarcomere lengths (Julian and Morgan, 1979a,b;Edman et al, 1982;Morgan, 1990Morgan, , 1994Edman and Tsuchiya, 1996;Morgan et al, 2000).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Force enhancement in single skeletal muscle fibres on the ascending limb of the force–length relationship

Peterson

Rassier

Herzog

2004

Journal of Experimental Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Buy / Rent full text

SUMMARY It has been assumed that force enhancement in single fibres of skeletal muscles only occurs on the descending, and not the ascending or plateau region, of the force–length relationship. This assumption has been based, however, on theoretical considerations or isolated experiments, in which neither stretch conditions nor fibre lengths were optimized for force enhancement. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the residual, steady-state force enhancement following active stretch in single muscle fibres of frog on the ascending limb of the force–length relationship. Twenty-nine stretch experiments on ten single fibres from the lumbrical muscle of the frog Rana pipiens were carried out on the ascending limb of the force–length relationship. Force enhancement was observed in 28 out of the 29 tests. Moreover, the force produced for stretch experiments finishing at optimal fibre length always exceeded the force obtained for an isometric contraction at optimal length. We conclude from these results that steady-state force enhancement occurs systematically on the ascending limb of the force–length relationship, and that the steady-state force in the enhanced state can easily exceed the maximal isometric force of the fibre.

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 64%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Force enhancement in single skeletal muscle fibres on the ascending limb of the force–length relationship

Peterson

Rassier

Herzog

2004

Journal of Experimental Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Buy / Rent full text

show abstract

“…This idea originated from the proposal that muscle segments and sarcomeres were thought to be unstable on the descending limb of the force-length relationship (Hill, 1953;Gordon et al, 1966) because of the presumed softening behavior of muscle on that part of its working range. In the meantime, it has been shown that sarcomeres are perfectly stable on the descending limb of the force-length relationship (Rassier et al, 2003a;Rassier et al, 2003b), and that the apparent softening behavior of muscle was an artifact of the static, rather than the dynamic, evaluation of the stiffness of muscles on the descending limb of the force-length relationship (Allinger et al, 1996).…”

Section: Structural Non-uniformity Mechanism For Force Enhancementmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of titin in eccentric muscle contraction

Herzog

2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Buy / Rent full text

Muscle contraction and force regulation in skeletal muscle have been thought to occur exclusively through the relative sliding of and the interaction between the contractile filaments actin and myosin. While this two-filament sarcomere model has worked well in explaining the properties of isometrically and concentrically contracting muscle, it has failed miserably in explaining experimental observations in eccentric contractions. Here, I suggest, and provide evidence, that a third filament, titin, is involved in force regulation of sarcomeres by adjusting its stiffness in an activation-dependent (calcium) and active force-dependent manner. Upon muscle activation, titin binds calcium at specific sites, thereby increasing its stiffness, and cross-bridge attachment to actin is thought to free up binding sites for titin on actin, thereby reducing titin's free-spring length, thus increasing its stiffness and force upon stretch of active muscle. This role of titin as a third force regulating myofilament in sarcomeres, although not fully proven, would account for many of the unexplained properties of eccentric muscle contraction, while simultaneously not affecting the properties predicted by the twofilament cross-bridge model in isometric and concentric muscle function. Here, I identify the problems of the two-filament sarcomere model and demonstrate the advantages of the three-filament model by providing evidence of titin's contribution to active force in eccentric muscle function.

show abstract

“…Fascicles were mounted in glycerol jelly on microscope slides, and fascicle length was measured using a video analysis system (Media Cybernetics, ImagePro Plus, Silver Spring, MD, USA). Sarcomere length was measured at five points along the length of each fascicle using a laser diffraction system (beam diameter, 0·8 mm; Allinger, 1995):…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Excursion is important in regulating sarcomere number in the growing rabbit tibialis anterior

Koh

Herzog

1998

The Journal of Physiology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Buy / Rent full text

Stability of muscle fibers on the descending limb of the force-length relation. A theoretical consideration

Cited by 57 publications

References 21 publications

Force enhancement in single skeletal muscle fibres on the ascending limb of the force–length relationship

Force enhancement in single skeletal muscle fibres on the ascending limb of the force–length relationship

The role of titin in eccentric muscle contraction

Excursion is important in regulating sarcomere number in the growing rabbit tibialis anterior

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About