Muscle fatigue in myophosphorylase deficiency: power spectral analysis of the electromyogram.

It has been postulated that the power spectral shift in the surface EMG during fatigue is due to accumulation of muscle lactate. This hypothesis has been directly tested by measuring such shift in 3 patients with myophosphorylase deficiency who performed sustained isometric contractions of the quadriceps muscle. It was found that the spectral shift in these patients was greater than that in normal subjects, rendering lactate as a cause of this phenomenon very unlikely. The mechanism of excessive fatiguability in myophosphorylase deficiency is thought to be due to failure of excitation of the muscle membrane; further support for this postulate is provided and it is contended that accumulation of extracellular potassium ions may explain the phenomena of spectral shift in normals and myophosphorylase deficient patients and the excessive fatiguability in the latter.