Name: Tamara Fainblout

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 : b. No, changing the stimulus voltage will not change the latent period duration.
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
0.0
3.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0

Length
75
75
75
75
75
75

Active Force
0.0
1.04
1.32
1.65
1.81
1.82

Passive Force
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

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Total Force
0.0
1.04
1.32
1.65
1.81
1.82

Latent Period
------3.20
3.20
3.20
3.20

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Post-lab Quiz Results

You scored 100% by answering 6 out of 6 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

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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:
A skeletal muscle fiber is a skeletal muscle cell. A motor unit is a single motor neuron attached to several muscle fibers. A
skeletal muscle twitch is a single contraction based off of a single action potential. An electrical stimulus is an invitro way of
using electricity to act as a stimulus rather than ACH. A latent period is the tim ebetween the stimulus and the contraction in
which all the steps of excitation-contraction coupling take place.
2. What is the role of acetylcholine in a skeletal muscle contraction?
Your answer:
Acetylcholine diffuses onto the sarcolemma and binds to receptors in the motor end plate which causes end-plate potential.
3. Describe the process of excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle fibers.
Your answer:
ACH diffuses to the sarcolemma and binds to receptros in the motor end plate causing an end plate potential. The end plate
potential leads to a series of events that cause contraction of the muscle fiber.
4. Describe the three phases of a skeletal muscle twitch.
Your answer:
The first phase is the latent phase, which is the period between when stimulus is introduced and the time of contraction. The
second phase is the contraction phase, which is from the time the muscle contracts to the peak of the muscle tension. The
last phase is the relaxation phase, which is from the peak of muscle tension, to the point where the muscle returns to a
relaxed state.
5. Does the duration of the latent period change with different stimulus voltages? How well did the results compare with
your prediction?
Your answer:
My prediction proved to be correct.
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:
During the threshold stimulus, sodium ions move into the cell to depolarize the sarcolemma.

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