Chapter 9, Problem 14P

Summary Introduction

To determine:

The difference between a twitch and sustained muscle contraction.

Introduction:

Muscle contraction is achieved by skeletal muscle which is also known as voluntary muscle and is under control of the somatic nervous system. For muscle contraction, four types of filament protein are required. Motor neuron generates action potential for a muscle fiber to stimulate muscle contraction and release calcium ions.

There are three types of muscle contractions such as twitch, sustain, and tetanus. Twitch muscle contractions involve the generation of single contraction and relaxation produced by an action potential in the muscle fiber. Sustained contraction is also known as tetanus contraction that occurs when motor neuron supplies action potential at a very high rate of the muscle fiber.