Force response of unstimulated intact frog muscle fibres to ramp stretches.

The possibility that weakly binding bridges are attached to actin in the absence of Ca2+ under physiological conditions was investigated by studying the force response of unstimulated intact muscle fibres of the frog to fast ramp stretches. The force response during the stretching period is divided into two phases: phase 1, coincident with the acceleration period of the sarcomere length change and phase 2, synchronous with sarcomere elongation at constant speed. The phase 1 amplitude increases linearly with the stretching speed in all the range tested, while phase 2 increases with the speed but reaches a plateau level at about 50 x 10(3) nm/half sarcomere per second. The analysis of data shows that phase 1, which corresponds to the initial 5-10 nm/half sarcomere of elongation, is very likely a pure viscous response; its amplitude increases with sarcomere length and it is not affected by the electrical stimulation of the fibre. Phase 2 is a viscoelastic response with a relaxation time of the order of 1 ms; its amplitude increases with sarcomere lengths and with the stimulation. These data suggest that weakly binding bridges are not present in a significant amount in unstimulated intact fibres.