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First published online December 3, 2004
Journal of Experimental Biology 207, 4505-4513 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01259

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Enhancement of twitch force by stretch in a nerve-skeletal muscle preparation of the frog Rana porosa brevipoda and the effects of temperature on it

Yoshiki Ishii, Takashi Watari and Teizo Tsuchiya^*

Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Kobe University, Rokkodai-cho 1-1, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Japan

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: tsuchiya{at}kobe-u.ac.jp)

Accepted 23 August 2004

We investigated the mechanism of the enhancement of twitch force by stretch and the effects of temperature on it in nerve-skeletal muscle preparations of whole iliofibularis muscles isolated from the frog Rana brevipoda. When a preparation was stimulated indirectly and stretched, the twitch force after the stretch was enhanced remarkably in comparison to that observed before a stretch at low temperature. The enhanced force obtained by a stretch of 20% resting muscle length (l₀) at low temperature was as high as the force obtained by direct stimulation. The phenomenon was not dependent on the velocity but on the amplitude of stretch. The enhanced force obeyed the length-force relationship when a stretch was long enough. The above results were observed when the frogs were kept at room temperature (20-22°C). Measurements were also taken at low temperature (4°C); when frogs were kept at low temperature for more than 2 months, twitch force obtained without stretch was considerably higher at l₀. The amplitude of the action potential recorded extracellularly from the muscle surface increased remarkably after a stretch, but was same before and after a stretch when recorded from the nerve innervating muscle. The effects of temperature on twitch and tetanic force by direct or indirect stimulation without stretch were also studied as basic data of the stretch experiment. The results from this study suggest that stretch-induced force enhancement in a nerve-muscle preparation is caused by an increase in the transmission rate between nerve and muscle, and the amplitude of the enhanced force is determined by the length-force relationship of the muscle. The phenomenon is also strongly affected by the temperature at which the frogs are kept.

Key words: stretch, force enhancement, nerve-muscle preparation, synaptic transmission, thermal acclimation, nerve stimulation, frog, Rana brevipoda

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