Heat production by single fibres of frog muscle

Abstract

The heat produced during contractions of preparations consisting of one or a few muscle fibres was measured for the first time. Fibres were dissected from the anterior tibialis muscles of the frog, Rana temporaria. Measurements were made with thermopiles of a design based on that described by Howarth et al. (1975). Although the fibre preparations were small, measurable signals could be recorded because the heat capacity of the thermopiles was also small. The output of the thermopile was amplified by a galvanometer circuit. In all the experiments the ends of the preparation were held in a fixed position during stimulation ("isometric'). Observations were made of heat production during twitches and tetanic contractions. The heat produced in a twitch of a single fibre depended on the stimulus strength in an all-or-nothing way. The results show that the amount of heat produced in individual twitches is fairly constant at different temperatures in the range 3-15 degrees C. In contrast, the heat produced in tetanic contractions is considerably greater at higher temperatures. The time course of heat production in a tetanus was influenced by temperature such that the early rapid phase of heat production was less obvious at the higher temperature. The quantities of heat produced by fibre preparations were in reasonable agreement with those produced by whole muscles when the comparison was made on the basis of heat produced per g wet weight of tissue.