Force-velocity relation in normal and nitrate-treated frog single muscle fibres during rise of tension in an isometric tetanus

Abstract

1. The force-velocity (P-V) relation for normal or NO-3 treated single fibres isolated from the semitendinosus muscle of the frog was determined at given times during the rise of tension and the plateau of isometric tetani. Experiments were made at about 2.25 micron sarcomere length and at constant temperatures, from 3 to 4.5 degrees C and from 19 to 21 degrees C. The controlled-velocity release method was used. 2. During the rise of tension, at any initial tension higher than about 0.2 P0, the lowest release velocity required to drop the tension to zero was the same as at the tetanic plateau, independent of the temperature and the presence of NO-3 ions in the bathing solution. 3. The degree of activation (measured by the steady force exerted at a given velocity of shortening lower than V0) increased with time, but attained its steady-state level before isometric tension. 4. At about 20 degrees C, frog muscle fibres at about 2.2 micron sarcomere length were only partially activated after a single stimulus. 5. NO-3 ions did not affect the steady-state P-V relation. At about 20 degrees C, NO-3 ions increased the rate of development of activation. Potentiation of the twitch contraction was due at least in part to this mechanism. 6. The 'relative' P-V relation appears to be independent of both the time after start of stimulation and the presence of NO-3 ions in the bathing solution. 7. The results are discussed in terms of the sliding filament model of Huxley (1957), assuming that either the number of actin sites available for cross-bridge formation, or the value of the rate constant for making of cross-bridges, is time dependent.