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
0.0
3.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0

Length
75
75
75
75
75
75

Active Force
0.00
1.04
1.32
1.65
1.81
1.82

Passive Force
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00

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Total Force
0.00
1.04
1.32
1.65
1.81
1.82

Latent Period
----3.20
2.80
2.80
2.80

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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- refers to an individual muscle cell
motor unit-motor neuron and all the fibers it innervates
skeletal muscle twitch-contractile response to a single action potential
electrical stimulus-electrical voltage applies to a muscle to simulate effect of acetylcholine
latent period-the time between the action potential in a cell and the start of muscle tension
2. What is the role of acetylcholine in a skeletal muscle contraction?
Your answer:
It acts as an neurotransmitter that causes a change in the ion permeability of the sarcolemma in order for graded
depolarization or end-plate potential to occur and thus, for movement to occur.
3. Describe the process of excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle fibers.
Your answer:
An action potential triggers the release of acetylcholine from the synaptic terminal into the synapltic cleft which then diffuses
into the sarcolemma, causing a change in ion permeability that leads to a graded depolarization of the membrane or the
end-plate potential. The end-plate potential trigger a series of events that lead to muscular contraction.
4. Describe the three phases of a skeletal muscle twitch.
Your answer:
latent period-time between the generation of an action potential and start of muscle action
contraction phase-period after end of latent period and peak of muscle tension
relaxation phase-period after the peak of muscle tension until muscle contraction ends
5. Does the duration of the latent period change with different stimulus voltages? How well did the results compare with
your prediction?
Your answer:
No, the duration of the latent period does not change with different stimulus voltages.
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:
Sodium ions would move out of the cell to cause depolarization.

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