Abstract
TWITCH responses of frog skeletal muscle can be potentiated, without any increase in peak tetanus responses, by many agents, for example, lyotropic anions1–3. The magnitude of twitch potentiation in these investigations varied considerably; but according to Hill and Macpherson (ref. 3, p. 88) “this cannot be avoided since the effect varies from muscle to muscle”. Recently, zinc also has been shown to act as a potentiator4–6. In these experiments, the potentiation (increment of twitch tension expressed as a percentage of the initial twitch tension) varied from 60 to 490 per cent. A major source of this variability is herein identified, and a control procedure is presented that should aid future potentiation studies.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kahn, A. J., and Sandow, A., Science, 112, 647 (1950).
Kahn, A. J., and Sandow, A., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 62, 137 (1955).
Hill, A. V., and Macpherson, L., Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 143, 81 (1954).
Sandow, A., and Isaacson, A., Biochem. and Biophys. Res. Comm., 2, 455 (1960).
Isaacson, A., and Sandow, A., Fed. Proc., 20, No. 1, 301 (1961).
Isaacson, A., Ph.D. dissertation, New York Univ. (1961).
Hill, A. V., Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 126, 136 (1938).
Ramsey, R. W., and Street, S. B., Biol. Symp., 3, 9 (1941).
Jewell, B. R., and Wilkie, D. R., J. Physiol., 143, 515 (1958).
Hill, A. V., Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 138, 325 (1951).
Ritchie, J. M., and Wilkie, D. R., J. Physiol., 130, 488 (1955).
Lammers, W., and Ritchie, J. M., J. Physiol., 129, 412 (1955).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
ISAACSON, A. Variability of Twitch Potentiation in Frog Skeletal Muscle. Nature 196, 381–382 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1038/196381a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/196381a0
This article is cited by
-
Effects of hydrostatic pressure on fatiguing frog muscle fibres
Journal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility (1996)
-
Kinetics of Myofilament Activation in Potentiated Contraction: Staircase Phenomenon in Human Skeletal Muscle
Nature (1968)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.