The Time Course of Tension Development in the Muscle Response

The relation between intrinsic speed of shortening and duration of the active state of muscle.

“…(11) Creese, Hashish & Scholes, 1958. (12) Fenn & Marsh, 1935 (13)Gilson, Schoepfle & Walker, 1947. (14)Goffart & Ritchie, 1952. (15) Hill, 1938. (16)Hill, 1949a.…”

Muscle

“…The compression-wave artifact interpretation of the LR advanced by Gilson et al (8,27) has been shown to be in valid in experiments of the author (18,39,40) and Abbott & Ritchie (30). The experiments were performed in a variety of ways so that compression wave effects, if they exist at all, could not possibly contribute to the underlying forces leading to the produc tion of the latency mechanical changes.…”

“…(8) . A new approach is developed by the author (18) i n which a basic assumption is made that a chain of four first-order reactions involving transformations of four forms of the contractile material (myosin) underlies the output of tension in both twitch and tetanus.…”

Effects of Rate of Stimulation and of Fatigue on the Response to Neuromuscular Blocking Agents

“…Quantitative studies on the influence of rate of stimulation on neuromuscular block have been made in the rat phrenic nerve-diaphragm preparation (Chou, 1947), in dogs by means of electromyograms (Guyton and Reeder, 1949), in cats and dogs with regard to respiratory depression (Li, Jacobs, Aviado, and Schmidt, 1952), and in the rat sciatic nerve-gastrocnemius preparation (Preston and Maanen, 1953). All these investigations showed that increased frequency of stimulation resulted in a decrease in the amount of drug required to produce the same degree of block.The response to blocking agents may also be altered by fatigue because during fatigue, as in partial block, the twitch tension of the muscle is diminished (Gilson, Schoepfle, and Walker, 1947;Brown and Burns, 1949). Symptoms resembling those that follow violent exercise may appear in man after an injection of suxamethonium though not after tubocurarine (Churchill-Davidson, 1954;Price, 1954).…”

“…The response to blocking agents may also be altered by fatigue because during fatigue, as in partial block, the twitch tension of the muscle is diminished (Gilson, Schoepfle, and Walker, 1947;Brown and Burns, 1949). Symptoms resembling those that follow violent exercise may appear in man after an injection of suxamethonium though not after tubocurarine (Churchill-Davidson, 1954;Price, 1954).…”