K(+) channel blockers like 3,4-diaminopyridine (DAP) can double isometric muscle force. Functional movements require more complex concentric and eccentric contractions, however the effects of K(+) channel blockade on these types of contractions in situ are unknown. Extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles were stimulated in situ with and without DAP in anesthetized rats and fatigability was addr...

BACKGROUND Few interventions reduce patellar tendinopathy (PT) pain in the short term. Eccentric exercises are painful and have limited effectiveness during the competitive season. Isometric and isotonic muscle contractions may have an immediate effect on PT pain. METHODS This single-blinded, randomised cross-over study compared immediate and 45 min effects following a bout of isometric and i...

The magnitude of the blood flow response to exercise has been linked to both the contractile work performed and the metabolic cost of the activity. Under certain conditions, contractile work and metabolic cost may be dissociated. This study examined the blood flow response to trains of contractions when contraction duration was manipulated under conditions of similar tension-time indexes (isome...

The purpose of this study was to compare the steadiness and discharge rate of motor units during submaximal contractions performed by young and old adults. Subjects performed isometric and slow shortening and lengthening contractions with the first dorsal interosseous muscle. The steadiness of the isometric and slow anisometric contractions was less for the old subjects compared with young subj...

In skeletal muscle, contractions increase glucose uptake due to a translocation of GLUT4 glucose transporters from intracellular storage sites to the surface membrane. Vesicle-associated membrane proteins (VAMPs) are believed to play an important role in docking and fusion of the GLUT4 transporters at the surface membrane. However, knowledge about which VAMP isoforms colocalize with GLUT4 vesic...

Advanced age is associated with derangements in skeletal muscle microvascular function during the transition from rest to contractions. We tested the hypothesis that, contrary to what was reported previously in young rats, selective neuronal nitric oxide (NO) synthase (nNOS) inhibition would result in attenuated or absent alterations in skeletal muscle microvascular oxygenation (Po(2)(mv)), whi...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of pentoxifylline (PTX), a drug that is mainly used for indications related to tissue hypoxia, on hypoxia-induced inhibition of skeletal muscle contractility and neuromuscular transmission in mice. We hypothesized that chronic PTX treatment alters skeletal muscle contractility and hypoxia-induced dysfunction. MATERIALS AND ...

The shape of the column of a sea anemone depends partly on the relative state of contraction of two antagonistic muscle groups in the body wall endoderm. These muscles, the circulars and the longitudinals (parietals), are attached to the mesogloea and act against the hydrostatic pressure in the coelenteron. The circulars form a continuous muscle sheet whereas the parietals lie only where mesent...

This study investigated whether maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVC-ISO) would attenuate the magnitude of eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. Young untrained men were placed into one of the two experimental groups or one control group (n = 13 per group). Subjects in the experimental groups performed either two or 10 MVC-ISO of the elbow flexors at a long muscle length (20° flexi...

Knee extensor neuromuscular activity was investigated during isometric (60° knee angle), shortening and lengthening contractions (50-70°, 10° ·s-1) corrected for force-velocity related differences in intrinsic muscle strength. However, during dynamic contractions additional factors such as shortening induced force losses and lengthening induced force gains may affect muscle strength and thereby...