RELATION OF MEMBRANE CHANGES TO CONTRACTION IN TWITCH MUSCLE FIBRES

1. Contractile responses in short twitch‐type snake muscle fibres have been studied. These fibres are sufficiently short to allow fairly uniform changes in membrane potential along their length when current is passed through an intracellular micropipette. Active sodium permeability changes were blocked with tetrodotoxin (TTX), procaine, or by using solutions low in sodium. Current and voltage micropipettes were used to voltage‐clamp these fibres. Depolarization steps to about −40 mV evoked contractile responses, maximal tension being developed between −10 and 0 mV. The relation between contraction and membrane potential was sigmoid. 2. Depolarization beyond a critical threshold produced an increment of outward current which inactivated with time. The threshold for this delayed rectification was normally similar to the threshold for contractile activation. Fibres exposed to high potassium showed a reversal of this inactivating current to slightly super‐threshold depolarizing pulses. At membrane potentials near 0 mV, no inactivating current was noted, while stronger depolarizing pulses produced an inactivating current in the normal direction. Fibres in high potassium show the same threshold for initiation of contraction as in normal solution. 3. Thiocyanate, nitrate, and caffeine shifted the relation between membrane potential and contraction toward higher levels of membrane potential. The threshold for inactivating rectifying current failed to shift to a corresponding extent, although some shift in rectification which did not inactivate was evident. 4. When depolarization was maintained, contractile tension was maximal for several seconds, then gradually disappeared. The rate of this contractile inactivation depended upon the level of depolarization. © 1969 The Physiological Society