Contractile properties of rat soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles were studied 1 year after complete thoracic spinal cord transection (spinal cord level T9). Force-generating capacity and contraction speed were unchanged in the extensor digitorum longus 1 year after transection. However, the rate of contraction and relaxation increased in the soleus as reflected by a decrease in time-t...

Dysferlin plays an important role in repairing membrane damage elicited by laser irradiation, and dysferlin deficiency causes muscular dystrophy and associated cardiomyopathy. Proteins such as perforin, complement component C9, and bacteria-derived cytolysins, as well as the natural detergent saponin, can form large pores on the cell membrane via complexation with cholesterol. However, it is no...

We test the hypothesis that cytosolic inorganic phosphate (Pi) can account for the contraction-induced reductions in twitch duration which impair summation and cause force to decline (sag) during unfused tetanic contractions of fast-twitch muscle. A five-state model of crossbridge cycling was used to simulate twitch and unfused tetanic contractions. As Pi concentration ([Pi]) was increased from...

The muscle physiology and histochemistry of a hereditary neuromuscular syndrome of the mouse, "arrested development of righting response" (ADR), was studied. The speed of single twitches of fast ADR limb muscles was normal up to an age of about 60 days but decreased at later ages. At any age between 10 and 120 days postnatal, fast and slow muscles of the mutant displayed after-contractions of 1...

Muscle fibres of the masseter and temporalis muscles of female rhesus monkeys which had been edentulous for 4.5 yr were analysed histochemically. Fibres were classified on the basis of activities of succinic acid dehydrogenase and myofibrillar adenosine triphosphatase. Capillaries were visualized by phosphatase activity. Succinate oxidase activity was determined by differential respirometry of ...

The abdominal nervous system of the crayfish contains six serially homologous ganglia, each containing approximately 650 neurones. No two ganglia are identical, and the ganglia interact extensively. Studies confined to intraganglionic interactions thus yield limited and sometimes misleading information. Each ganglion contains intrinsic (local) interneurones, motor neurones and projecting intern...

The jaw muscles of a turtle [Mauremys (Clemmys) japonica (MCJ)], have been analyzed for the histochemical characteristics of their fiber types. Six jaw muscles of the MCJ have been analyzed for histochemical characteristics of their fiber types. In this study, fiber types in two groups of muscles are classified; 1) fast twitch glycolytic (FG), fast twitch oxidative glycolytic (FOG), slow twitch...