Exercise 2: Skeletal Muscle Physiology: Activity 5: Fatigue in Isolated Skeletal Muscle Lab Report Pre-lab Quiz Results You

scored 100% by answering 4 out of 4 questions correctly. 1. When skeletal muscle twitches fuse so that the peaks and valleys of each twitch become indistinguishable from each other, the muscle is in a state known as You correctly answered: d. complete (fused) tetanus. 2. When the stimulus frequency reaches a value beyond which no further increase of skeletal muscle force can occur, the muscle has reached its You correctly answered: c. maximal tetanic tension. 3. A decline in a muscle's ability to maintain a constant level of force, or tension, after prolonged, repetitive stimulation is called You correctly answered: c. fatigue. 4. Which of the following is not thought to be a contributing factor to the development of fatigue? You correctly answered: a. buildup of Ca2+ in the muscle fibers

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Experiment Results Predict Question: Predict Question: If the stimulator is briefly turned off for defined periods of time, what will happen to the length of time that the muscle is able to sustain maximal developed tension when the stimulator is turned on again? Your answer : b. The length of the rest period will proportionately increase the length of time for sustained muscle tension. Stop & Think Questions: Why does the stimulated muscle force begin to decrease over time despite the maintained stimuli? (Note that a decrease in maximal force indicates muscle fatigue is developing.) You correctly answered: d. More than one of these answers could be correct. Why did the length of the intervening rest period affect the length of time the skeletal muscle can maintain maximum tension once the stimulator is turned on again? You correctly answered: c. Intracellular concentrations of ADP and Pi declined during the rest period. Experiment Data: Voltage 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 Stimuli/sec 120 120 120 120 Rest Period (sec) 0 0 10 20 Active Force (g) 5.86 5.86 5.86 5.86 Sustained Maximal Force (sec) 10 10 1.00 5.00

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Post-lab Quiz Results You scored 100% by answering 5 out of 5 questions correctly. 1. During cross bridge cycling in skeletal muscle, force is created by the You correctly answered: c. power stroke of the myosin heads. 2. The term tetanus refers to You correctly answered: b. sustained muscle tension due to repetitive stimuli. 3. A decline in a muscle's ability to maintain a constant level of force, or tension, after prolonged, repetitive stimulation is called You correctly answered: c. fatigue. 4. During fatigue You correctly answered: c. the number of active cross bridges begins to decline although the rate of stimulus delivery (frequency) remains constant. 5. If an intervening rest period is imposed on active skeletal muscle You correctly answered: c. the development of fatigue will be delayed.

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Review Sheet Results 1. When a skeletal muscle fatigues, what happens to the contractile force over time? Your answer: When a skeletal muscle fatigues the contractile force declines due to previous contractile activity. Once the muscle has reached maximum tetanic tension, there is no longer an increase in force generated by the muscle. At this stage, the muscle becomes fatigued and contractile force starts to decrease over time. 2. What are some proposed causes of skeletal muscle fatigue? Your answer: The buildup of lactic acid, ADP, and Pi in the muscle fibers. 3. Turning the stimulator off allows a small measure of muscle recovery. Thus, the muscle will produce more force for a longer time period if the stimulator is briefly turned off than if the stimuli were allowed to continue without interruption. Explain why this might occur. How well did the results compare with your prediction? Your answer: By turning the stimulator off, a period of rest is created; thus allowing the concentrations of intercellular concentrations of Lactic Acid, ADP, and Pi to decrease. With these concentrations being at a decreased level, the length of time that the muscle is able to maintain maximum tension increases. If the stimulator was not turned off for a short time, the musclewould not be allowed to reach a rest period and fatigue would continue. My prediction was correct the most time there is to rest the long the muscle can sustain maximum tension. 4. List a few ways that humans could delay the onset of fatigue when they are vigorously using their skeletal muscles. Your answer: - a taking a few breaks - good amounts of excersie creates endurance and that resists fatigue.

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