Stepwise shortening: evidence and implications

Stepwise dynamics of connecting filaments measured in single myofibrillar sarcomeres

Single relaxed myofibrils of bumblebee flight muscle were subjected to motor-imposed ramp-length changes. The image of the striations was projected onto a linear photodiode array, and sarcomere length was computed as the spacing between centroids of contiguous A-bands. Centroid position was determined by integrating the respective A-band intensity peak and computing the location at which the area on one side was equal to the other. The resulting trace of centroid to centroid span versus time was stepwise, with periods of rapid shortening alternating with periods of pause. An alternative nondiscrete sensor gave similar steps. If thick filament length remains constant, stepwise sarcomere length changes imply that length changes in the connecting filament must be stepwise. Thus, shortening of the connecting filament occurs as a sequence of discrete events rather than as a continuous event.

Stepwise shortening in unstimulated frog skeletal muscle fibres

We investigated the dynamics of sarcomere length change during imposed stretches and releases of unstimulated single fibres of frog skeletal muscle. Three independent methods were used: an on-line method in which sarcomere length is computed from the striation pattern; laser diffraction; and a segment length tracking device. During steady ramp releases and stretches, both sarcomere and segment length changes occurred in stepwise fashion; i.e. periods of pause were interspersed between periods of rapid shortening. The above result indicates that activation of the fibre is not required to elicit stepwise length changes. Increasing the ramp velocity caused the steps to increase in size and the pauses to decrease in duration. Ramp releases and stretches were imposed at each of several initial sarcomere lengths up to 4.0 microns. Stepwise length changes were observed at all lengths, and their size was independent of initial sarcomere length. The observation of stepwise length changes beyond overlap indicates that the underlying mechanism probably does not lie in synchronous action of cross-bridges; an alternative hypothesis is advanced.