help button home button Biophys. J.
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS

Biophysical Journal 59: 926-933 (1991)
© 1991 the Biophysical Society

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Neering, I R
Right arrow Articles by Taylor, S R
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Neering, I R
Right arrow Articles by Taylor, S R

Nonuniform volume changes during muscle contraction.

I R Neering, L A Quesenberry, V A Morris and S R Taylor

School of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of NSW Kensington, Australia.

ABSTRACT

We measured dynamic changes in volume during contraction of live, intact frog skeletal muscle fibers through a high-speed, intensified, digital-imaging microscope. Optical cross-sections along the axis of resting cells were scanned and compared with sections during the plateau of isometric tetanic contractions. Contraction caused an increase in volume of the central third of a cell when axial force was maximum and constant and the central segment was stationary or lengthened slightly. But changes were unequal along a cell and not predicted by a cell's resting area or shape (circularity). Rapid local adjustments in the cytoskeletal evidently keep forces in equilibrium during contraction of living skeletal muscle. These results also show that optical signals may be distorted by nonuniform volume changes during contraction.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1991 by the Biophysical Society.