Abstract
IN connexion with our studies on the relaxing effect of the pyruvate phosphokinase system1, the following procedure was used for preparing the muscle fibres. Rabbit psoas is washed in 50 per cent (v/v) aqueous glycerol (as in the original treatment of Szent-Györgyi2) for two days at 0° C, then stripped into bundles of approximately ¼ mm. diameter and shaken at room temperature (about 25° C.) in 20 per cent (v/v) glycerol for various lengths of time. After one to two hours extraction, the fibres develop maximal isometric tension in a bath consisting of 0.1 M potassium chloride, 4 mM magnesium chloride, and 4 mM adenosine triphosphate, and there is no sign of spontaneous relaxation. However, addition of 10 mM phosphoenolpyruvate brings about immediate relaxation. Further details on the relaxation with phosphoenolpyruvate will be published elsewhere; here, we wish to report on the results obtained by extracting psoas fibres in 20 per cent (v/v) glycerol for at least 24 hr. If such an exhaustively washed fibre is placed in a bath containing the above concentrations of potassium and magnesium chlorides and adenosine triphosphate, maximal tension develops, and upon the addition of phosphoenolpyruvate a spontaneous oscillation occurs as shown in Fig. 1.
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References
Lorand, L., and Moos, C., Fed. Proc., 15, 121 (1956).
Szent-Györgyi, A., Biol. Bull., 96, 140 (1949).
Boettiger, E. G., J. Cell. Comp. Physiol., 46, 370 (1955).
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LORAND, L., MOOS, C. Auto-oscillations in Extracted Muscle Fibre Systems. Nature 177, 1239 (1956). https://doi.org/10.1038/1771239a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1771239a0
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