Exercise 2: Skeletal Muscle Physiology: Activity 1: The Muscle Twitch and the Latent Period Lab Report

Pre-lab Quiz Results

You scored 100% by answering 5 out of 5 questions correctly.

1. Skeletal muscles are connected to bones by

You correctly answered: b. tendons.

2. Skeletal muscles are composed of hundreds to thousands of individual cells called

You correctly answered: c. fibers.

3. The term motor unit refers to

You correctly answered: c. one motor neuron and all of the skeletal muscle fibers it innervates.

4. The motor neuron and muscle fiber intersect at what is called

You correctly answered: d. the neuromuscular junction.

5. A twitch is
You correctly answered: a. one contractile response to a single action potential.

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Experiment Results
Predict Question:
Predict Question: Will changes to the stimulus voltage alter the duration of the latent period?
Your answer : a. Yes, changing the stimulus voltage will change the latent period duration proportionately.

Stop & Think Questions:

What is the period of time that elapses between the generation of an action potential and the start of muscle tension
development in a muscle fiber?
You correctly answered: c. the latent period

What occurs during the latent period of these isometric contractions?

You correctly answered: b. All the steps of excitation-contraction coupling occur.

Experiment Data:

Voltage Length Active Force Passive Force Total Force Latent Period
0.0 75 0.00 0.00 0.00 ---
3.0 75 1.04 0.00 1.04 ---
4.0 75 1.32 0.00 1.32 144.00
6.0 75 1.65 0.00 1.65 144.00
8.0 75 1.81 0.00 1.81 144.00
10.0 75 1.82 0.00 1.82 144.00

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Post-lab Quiz Results
You scored 100% by answering 7 out of 7 questions correctly.

1. An action potential in a motor neuron triggers the release of which neurotransmitter?

You correctly answered: b. acetylcholine

2. The term skeletal muscle fiber refers to

You correctly answered: a. an individual skeletal muscle cell.

3. The graded depolarization in the skeletal muscle fiber that is elicited in response to one action potential from the motor
neuron is called
You correctly answered: c. an EPP (end-plate potential).

4. Which of the following is not a phase of a skeletal muscle twitch?

You correctly answered: b. hyperpolarization phase

5. A skeletal muscle twitch is

You correctly answered: a. one contractile response to a single action potential.

6. Which of the following correctly matches the twitch phase with its definition?
You correctly answered: d. the contraction phase: the time between the end of the latent period and peak muscle tension

7. A sufficiently strong electrical stimulus applied to an isolated, mounted skeletal muscle induces the development of
muscle force, or muscle tension. Which of the following statements concerning this observation is true?
You correctly answered: c. The electrical stimulus mimics acetylcholine release at a neuromuscular junction

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Review Sheet Results
1. Define the terms skeletal muscle fiber, motor unit, skeletal muscle twitch, electrical stimulus, and latent period.
Your answer:
Skeletal muscle fiber is a fusiform and multinucleated cell with contractile capacity and of which it is composed of muscle
tissue.

The motor unit is the one that emits the nerve impulse that causes the muscle fiber to contract, which means that it conducts
the impulses of the brain and spinal cord to the effectors (muscles). The post synaptic button of the motor neuron and all the
muscle fibers it stimulates constitute the motor unit.

The contraction of a muscle is the physiological process by which muscle fibers develop tension. This tension is produced
by the interaction of actin and myosin in the filaments of the muscle fibers and is activated by a nervous impulse of the
Central Nervous System.

Muscle electrostimulation (EMS) or electrical neuromuscular stimulation (ENE) or electrostimulation is the way to exercise
using electrical impulses. impulses are generated in a device that is applied with electrodes to the skin near the muscles
that are intended to be stimulated. The impulses mimic the action potential of the central nervous system, causing muscle
contraction.

Latency period: period between the generation of potential action in the muscle cell and the onset of muscle contraction.

2. What is the role of acetylcholine in a skeletal muscle contraction?

Your answer:
Acetylcholine is a chemical messenger, a neurotransmitter released by neurons in many parts of the peripheral nervous
system. For example, it controls the contraction of all voluntary or skeletal muscles. It also affects smooth muscle and heart
muscle contraction. Acetylcholine is stored in synaptic vesicles in nerve endings until an electrical signal triggers its release
in a specific part of the muscle cell membrane equipped with receptors that recognize the neurotransmitter.

Effect of acetylcholine on smooth musculature:

Acetylcholine activates a different type of receptor present in smooth muscles: the muscarinic receptor. When it binds to
acetylcholine, one of the results is the release of calcium ions from internal storehouses. The interaction of acetylcholine
with muscarinic receptors, as well as with nicotinic receptors, generates the opening of channels resulting in an ionic flow
that depolarizes the muscle cell. As in skeletal muscle, depolarization triggers muscle contraction.

Effect of acetylcholine on the heart muscle:

Like smooth muscle, the heart muscle has muscarinic receptors. However, the effect of acetylcholine on the heart muscle
differs greatly from skeletal or smooth muscle. In the heart, activation of acetylcholine's muscarinic receptors causes the
channels of the muscular membrane to allow the entry of potassium. This has the effect of slowing down the contraction of
the heart muscle and making it beat less hard.

3. Describe the process of excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle fibers.

Your answer:
The general mechanism of muscle contraction for movement is based on the excitation-contraction of a muscle fiber. For
this to occur, a potential for action travels along from a motor fiber to its terminals over the muscle fibers, in each terminal
the secret acetylcholine (Ach) nerve; Ach opens cationic channels sensitive to ligand, through the channels large quantities
of Na+ diffuse into the muscle fiber membrane, this produces a local depolarization and opens voltage-activated Na+

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channels and initiates a potential for action in the membrane. The potential travels along the muscle fiber and depolarizes
the muscular membrane and in the center causes the sarcoplasmic reticulum to release Ca+.

Ca+ ions initiate attraction between the myosin actin filaments, (thanks to the fact that Ca+ binds to the troponin and frees
up myosin binding sites in the actin) causing them to slide on each other and stabilize the contractile process. After a
fraction of a second, the Ca+ ions are pumped into the sarcoplasmic reticulum by a Ca+ pump, where they remain stored up
to a new potential.

This removes the Ca+ ions and causes the contraction to cease.

4. Describe the three phases of a skeletal muscle twitch.

Your answer:
1. The latency period:
is the time that elapses between the generation of an action potential in the muscle cell and the onset of muscle contraction.
Although no force is generated during the latency period, chemical changes (including the release of calcium from the
sarcoplasmic reticulum) are intracellularly produced, leading to contraction.

2. The contraction phase:

begins at the height of the latency period and ends when the muscle reaches maximum tension.

3. The relaxation phase:

is the period of time from the maximum stress to the nal tension of muscle contraction

5. Does the duration of the latent period change with different stimulus voltages? How well did the results compare with
your prediction?
Your answer:
Well, the prediction of my response with the results of the experiments materialized because muscle contraction is different
with the types of voltages. This is because when there is more electricity, cell membranes cause greater de-poralization and
repolarization than those that receive less electricity.

6. At the threshold stimulus, do sodium ions start to move into or out of the cell to bring about the membrane
depolarization?
Your answer:
well sodium ions begin to move within the cell to cause membrane depolarization.

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