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Longitudinal and transversal propagation of excitation along the tubular system of rat fast‐twitch muscle fibres studied by high speed confocal microscopy
Author(s) -
Edwards Joshua N.,
Cully Tanya R.,
Shan Thomas R.,
Stephenson D. George,
Launikonis Bradley S.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221796
Subject(s) - excitation , skeletal muscle , confocal microscopy , biophysics , confocal , contraction (grammar) , membrane , chemistry , anatomy , materials science , biology , physics , optics , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , endocrinology , quantum mechanics
Non‐technical summary Contraction of the vertebrate skeletal muscle is dependent on the excitation of the highly specialized plasma membrane of individual muscle fibres. Most of the plasma membrane covers an extensive, structured network of narrow invaginating tubules, but little is known about how excitation propagates along the tubular network of mammalian skeletal muscle fibres in the radial and longitudinal directions with respect to the fibre axis. Here we show that excitation can take multiple pathways through the internal network of tubules in fast‐twitch muscle fibres of the rat and determine the rates that excitation can spread within the internalized membrane tubules and show how this can change during muscle fatigue. Our results increase our understanding of mammalian skeletal muscle function in health, fatigue and some disease states.