Earliest mechanical evidence of cross-bridge activity after stimulation of single skeletal muscle fibers

Mechanism of latency relaxation in frog skeletal muscle

The latency relaxation is a small drop of tension before skeletal muscle begins to develop active tension. This phenomenon was found nearly one century ago but its origin has not been clarified. In this review, the hypotheses for its mechanism are discussed in terms of the recent experimental results using X-ray diffraction. The latency relaxation takes place almost simultaneously as the structural change of the regulatory protein troponin, an unspecified structural change of the thick filament, and increase in stiffness. It seems difficult to associate all of these with the latency relaxation by assuming a simple mechanism.

A structural origin of latency relaxation in frog skeletal muscle

A time-resolved x-ray diffraction study at a time resolution of 0.53 ms was made to investigate the structural origin of latency relaxation (LR) in frog skeletal muscle. Intensity and spacing measurements were made on meridional reflections from the Ca-binding protein troponin and the thick filament and on layer lines from the thin filament. At 16 degrees C, the intensity and spacing of all reflections started to change at 4 ms, simultaneously with the LR. At 0 degrees C, the intensity of the troponin reflection and the layer lines from the thin filament and the spacing of the 14.3-nm myosin meridional reflection, but not the spacing of other myosin meridional reflections, began to change at approximately 15 ms, when the LR also started. Intensity of myosin-based reflections started to change later. When the muscle was stretched to non-overlap length, the intensity and spacing changes of the myosin reflections disappeared. The simultaneous spacing change of the 14.3-nm myosin meridional reflection with the LR suggests that detachment of myosin heads that are bound to actin in the resting muscle is the cause of the LR.

Cross-bridge movement and stiffness during the rise of tension in skeletal muscle--a theoretical analysis

Predictions for the time courses of cross-bridge attachment. N(t), stiffness, S(t), and force, T(t), during the tetanus rise were analysed for a special class of cross-bridge models where cross-bridges initially attach in a non-stereospecific weak-binding state, AW. This state is in rapid equilibrium (equilibrium constant K) with detached states and the force generating transition (rate constant F+) is delayed. One model (model IA) which assumed step-function rise of activation at onset of tetanus, gave a poor fit to the experimental data (judged by root mean square error, RMSe approximately 0.038) but the experimentally observed lead of N(t) over T(t) was reproduced qualitatively. An activation mechanism where K increased towards its maximum value according to an exponential function (Model IB) improved the fit considerably (RMSe approximately 0.013). However, the activation time constant (r = 30 ms) derived in the fit was too high to reflect Ca2+ binding to troponin. In a further developed model (model II) both Ca2+ -binding to troponin and cross-bridge attachment were assumed to be required for full activation. This more complex model gave a good fit to the experimental data (RMSe approximately 0.013) with a realistic time constant for Ca2+ binding to troponin (9 ms). In both model IB and model II the best fit was obtained with F+ approximately 40 s(-1). An extended version of model IB, with distributed cross-bridge attachment and a series elastic element, gave a fit of similar quality (RMSe approximately 0.009) as obtained with model IB and model II and with a similar value of F+. The results support the view that weakly bound cross-bridges (state AW) may account for the lead of cross-bridge movement over force during tension rise. It is also shown that, if the stiffness of the myofilaments is non-linear (stiffness increasing with tension) the experimentally observed lead of S(t) over T(t) may, to a significant degree, be attributed to cross-bridges in the state AW.

Do cross-bridges contribute to the tension during stretch of passive muscle?

The tension rise during stretch of passive skeletal muscle is biphasic, with an initial steep rise, followed by a subsequent more gradual change. The initial rise has been interpreted as being due to the presence of numbers of long-term, stable cross-bridges in resting muscle fibres. A point of weakness with the cross-bridge interpretation is that the initial stiffness reaches its peak value at muscle lengths beyond the optimum for myofilament overlap. To explain this result it has been suggested that despite the reduced overlap at longer lengths, the closer interfilament spacing and a higher sensitivity of the myofilaments to Ca2+ allows more stable cross-bridges to form. Recently the stretch responses of passive muscle have been re-examined and it has been suggested that it is not necessary to invoke cross-bridge mechanisms at all. Explanations based on a viscous resistance to interfilament sliding and mechanical properties of the elastic filaments, the gap filaments, were thought to adequately account for the observed tension changes. However, an important property of passive muscle, the dependence of stretch responses on the immediate history of contraction and length changes, thixotropy, cannot be explained simply in terms of viscous and viscoelastic properties. The review discusses the cross-bridge interpretation of muscle thixotropy and the relationship of passive stiffness to filament resting tension and latency relaxation. It is proposed that cross-bridges can exist in three states; one, responsible for the resting stiffness, requires resting levels of calcium. When, during activation, calcium levels rise, cross-bridges enter a low-force, high-stiffness state, signalled by latency relaxation, before they move to the third, force-generating state. It is concluded that, compared with viscoelastic models, a cross-bridge-based explanation of passive muscle properties is better able to accommodate the currently known facts although, as new information becomes available, this view may need to be revised.

The effect of length on the relationship between tension and intracellular [Ca2+] in intact frog skeletal muscle fibres

1. The relationship between tension and intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) in intact frog skeletal muscle fibres was determined at two fibre lengths, corresponding to mean sarcomere lengths (SL) of 2.2 and 2.9 micron. Tension and [Ca2+]i were recorded during the slow decline of tension following stimulation in the presence of cyclopiazonic acid (CPA), a sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-uptake pump inhibitor. [Ca2+]i was estimated by injecting the K+ salt form of the fluorescent dye fura-2 into the fibres. Experimental temperature was 3.0 C. 2. At a SL of 2.2 micron, where thick and thin filaments fully overlap, the [Ca2+]i corresponding to 50 % tension generation ([Ca2+]50) was 1.09 +/- 0.02 microM (mean +/- S.E.M., n = 61 contractions). At a SL of 2.9 micron, where overlap is approximately 50 %, the [Ca2+]50 was significantly lower, 0.69 +/- 0. 02 microM (n = 22 contractions). This is in agreement with previous results from skinned fibres. 3. The relationship between tension and [Ca2+]i was very steep, as reported previously from experiments at a SL of 2.2 micron in which the membrane permeant acetoxymethyl ester form of fura-2 was used. The fall in tension from 90 to 10 % occurred in 0.12 +/- 0.01 pCa units (mean +/- S.E.M., n = 61) for a SL of 2.2 micron and 0.17 +/- 0.01 pCa units (n = 22) for a SL of 2.9 micron, corresponding to Hill coefficients of 15.4 and 10.9, respectively. 4. We conclude that the increase in sensitivity of tension to [Ca2+] that occurs in skinned skeletal muscle fibres upon stretch also occurs in intact fibres, that the steepness of the relation between tension and [Ca2+]i in intact fibres reported previously cannot be attributed to the use of the acetoxymethyl ester form of fura-2 to report [Ca2+]i, and that the steepness decreases as myofilament overlap decreases.

The relationship between tension and slowly varying intracellular calcium concentration in intact frog skeletal muscle

1. The relationship between intracellular calcium concentration, [Ca2+]i, and fixed-end tension was investigated in intact single muscle fibres from frogs. A slow decline of tension was produced by cyclopiazonic acid (CPA), a sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ uptake pump inhibitor. The fluorescent dyes fura-2 and furaptra (mag-fura-2) were used to estimate [Ca2+]i. 2. Neither the steepness nor the position of the curve changed consistently over a wide range of tension decay times from a few seconds to over 100 s. For these near-steady-state curves, the 10-90% tension change occurred, on average, in 0.07 pCa units, corresponding to a Hill coefficient > 25, much steeper than previously reported. Possible artifacts could reduce that to 15. 3. Methoxyverapamil (D600) reduces the calcium released in response to an action potential. Contractions with D600 and CPA had a slow rise composed of many small steps, and a slow fall. Comparing rise and fall showed little or no hysteresis in the tension-[Ca2+]i relationship. 4. A model involving co-operativity between the binding of Ca2+ and myosin to thin filaments is shown to produce a tension-pCa relationship that is substantially altered by the mean rate constant for detachment of myosin cross-bridges, which in turn is likely to be affected by sarcomere movements. 5. Such a model is shown to be capable of reproducing the small rise in [Ca2+]i previously reported during the late phase of fixed-end relaxation of intact fibres.

The force-velocity curve in passive whole muscle is asymmetric about zero velocity

The force-velocity property of passive muscle was investigated to determine if a discontinuity of slope occurred at zero velocity. Isolated, unstimulated whole frog sartorius muscles were subjected to constant-velocity stretches and releases using a servo-controlled lever. The force due to damping (delta T) was calculated by subtracting the tension measured at a very low speed (1.0 mm s-1) from the tension measured at the same length while the muscle was shortening or lengthening at a particular test speed. The experiments were performed over a range of speeds at each of several lengths and at two temperatures. For comparison, the same experiments were performed using a strip of pure latex rubber and a steel spring. Curves showing the magnitude of delta T vs velocity were nearly symmetric about the zero-velocity axis for the steel spring and the rubber strip, but were markedly asymmetric for passive muscle, showing a positive delta T for lengthening at all speeds that was between four and 11 times the negative delta T for shortening at the same speed, depending on the temperature and initial stretch length. The force due to damping at a given speed increased with extension above the rest length in passive muscle but decreased with increasing length in experiments using the latex strip. Predictions obtained from a mathematical model based on a damping element in series with a lightly damped spring were fitted to the experimental measurements of delta T vs velocity. The damping parameter provisionally representing interfilamentary sliding was between six and 12 times larger for lengthening than for shortening.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Development of stiffness precedes cross-bridge attachment during the early tension rise in single frog muscle fibres

1. Force responses to ramp stretches were recorded in single muscle fibres isolated from the lumbricalis muscle of the frog. Stretches were applied at rest and at progressively increasing times after a single stimulus. 2. The increase of fibre stiffness that precedes tension development has a 'static' component that accounts for the whole fibre stiffness increase during the latent period and at very low tension at the beginning of the twitch. 3. Static stiffness increase was not affected by 2,3-butanedione-2-monoxime, a drug that almost completely inhibited twitch tension. 4. Static stiffness increased approximately 5-fold as the sarcomere length was increased from 2.1 to 2.84 microns. 5. These results suggest that static fibre stiffness increase is not attributable to the formation of non-force-generating cross-bridges.

The intracellular Ca2+ transient and tension in frog skeletal muscle fibres measured with high temporal resolution

1. The purpose of this study was to determine, with high temporal resolution, the relationship between the intracellular Ca2+ transient (ICT) and the mechanical responses of intact, single skeletal muscle fibres of frogs following stimulation by a single, brief depolarization. 2. The time course of the ICT was monitored using the Ca(2+)-sensitive fluorescent dyes mag-fura-2 (furaptra) and mag-fura-5. The mag-fura dyes have a low affinity for Ca2+ and have been shown to track the ICT with no appreciable kinetic delay. Continuous records of mag-fura fluorescence, tension and stiffness responses were obtained simultaneously at high time resolution at a sarcomere length of 2.9 microns. Experimental temperature was 3 degrees C. 3. When a delay of 0.4 ms due to the low-pass filter associated with the photodetector was included, the onset of the fluorescence response preceded the onset of latency relaxation (the small fall in tension that precedes positive tension generation) by 3.1 +/- 0.2 ms (mean +/- S.E.M., n = 8). After its onset, the mag-fura fluorescence signal continued to change rapidly (indicating increasing intracellular [Ca2+]) to an extreme level that occurred 1.5 +/- 0.5 ms (mean +/- S.E.M., n = 7) before tension had recovered to its resting level following latency relaxation. The time delay from the extreme of the fluorescence signal to the peak of the tension signal was 239 +/- 27 ms (mean +/- S.E.M., n = 6).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Tension in frog single muscle fibers while shortening actively and passively at velocities near Vu

Experiments were undertaken to determine the contribution of passive tension to total tension during rapid shortening in a stimulated muscle fiber. Results were obtained by applying shortening movements at constant velocities slightly less than Vu (the velocity of unloaded shortening) to intact twitch fibers isolated from the frog (Rana temporaria). The tension maintained by unstimulated fibers during such shortening movements ("dynamic passive tension") from moderately long lengths was greater than zero but much less than the passive tension measured under static conditions ("static passive tension") at the same lengths. Fibers maximally activated by electrical stimulation and then shortened at the same velocity over the same range of average sarcomere lengths maintained tension that was greater than zero but less than the dynamic passive tension. For average sarcomere lengths up to approximately 3.1 microns, the dynamic passive tension appeared to be substantially abolished by activation. The onset of the apparent disappearance of dynamic passive tension was studied by initiating the stimulation and the shortening movement simultaneously. The resulting tension response exhibited a latency relaxation that was increased in amplitude compared with the isometric case, followed by a brief tension rise, giving way to a steady tension level equal to that expected if stimulation had been initiated well before the release. These changes are qualitatively explained in terms of the establishment of a steady state distribution of deformations of attached cross-bridges.