Exercise 2: Skeletal Muscle Physiology: Activity 3: The Effect of Stimulus Frequency on Skeletal Muscle Contraction Lab

Report
Pre-lab Quiz Results
You scored 100% by answering 4 out of 4 questions correctly.
1. During a single twitch of a skeletal muscle
You correctly answered: b. maximal force is never achieved.
2. When a skeletal muscle is repetitively stimulated, twitches can overlap each other and result in a stronger muscle
contraction than a stand-alone twitch. This phenomenon is known as
You correctly answered: c. wave summation.
3. Wave summation is achieved by
You correctly answered: a. increasing the stimulus frequency (the rate of stimulus delivery to the muscle).
4. Wave summation increases the force produced in the muscle. Another way to increase the force produced by a muscle
is to
You correctly answered: d. increase the number of activated motor units.
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Experiment Results
Predict Question:
Predict Question 1: As the stimulus frequency increases, what will happen to the muscle force generated with each
successive stimulus? Will there be a limit to this response?
Your answer : d. As the stimulus frequency increases, the muscle force generated by each successive stimulus will first
increase and then decrease as the stimulus frequency becomes very high.
Predict Question 2: In order to produce sustained muscle contractions with an active force value of 5.2 grams, do you think
you will need to increase the stimulus voltage?
Your answer : a. yes
Stop & Think Questions:
Was there any change in the force generated by the muscle during the second stimulated twitch?
You correctly answered: c. Yes, the second twitch generated more muscle force.
Is the total muscle force generated by the higher frequency stimulation greater than the force generated in previous
stimulations?
You correctly answered: a. Yes, it is greater than the previous stimulations.
Does the force generated by the muscle change with each additional stimulus?
You correctly answered: b. As the stimulus frequency increased, the muscle tension generated by each successive stimulus
also increased, and a limiting maximum value was observed.
Experiment Data:
Voltage Length Stimulus Active Force Passive Force Total Force
8.5 75 Single 1.83 0.00 1.83
8.5 75 Multiple 2.40 0.00 2.40
8.5 75 Multiple 2.51 0.00 2.51
8.5 75 Multiple 3.30 0.00 3.30
10 75 Multiple 3.30 0.00 3.30
8.5 75 Multiple 5.68 0.00 5.68
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Post-lab Quiz Results
You scored 100% by answering 4 out of 4 questions correctly.
1. Which of the following is not one of the ways that the body can increase the force produced by a skeletal muscle?
You correctly answered: d. application of higher voltages to the whole muscle
2. When a muscle receives a stimulus frequency that causes non-overlapping twitches to follow each other closely in time
such that the peak tension of each twitch rises in a stepwise fashion up to a plateau value, the result is known as
You correctly answered: c. treppe.
3. In this experiment the isolated skeletal muscle was repetitively stimulated such that individual twitches overlapped with
each other and resulted in a stronger muscle contraction than a standalone twitch. This phenomenon is known as
You correctly answered: c. wave summation.
4. Wave summation is achieved by
You correctly answered: a. increasing the rate of stimulus delivery (frequency) to the muscle.
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Review Sheet Results
1. What is the difference between stimulus intensity and stimulus frequency?
Your answer:
Stimulus intensity describes the amount of force generated to administer the stimulus.
Stimulus frequency refers to the rate of delivered stimulus to the muscle; the measured frequency and amount of stimulus to
a muscle that occurs/ed in a given amount of time.
2. In this experiment you observed the effect of stimulating the isolated skeletal muscle multiple times in a short period with
complete relaxation between the stimuli. Describe the force of contraction with each subsequent stimulus. Are these results
called treppe or wave summation?
Your answer:
When stimulating the isolated skeletal muscle multiple times in a short period with complete relaxation between each stimuli,
the amount of force between each stimulus increased progressively in step like form to a maximum peak where a plateau of
the force occurred. This is called treppe.
3. How did the frequency of stimulation affect the amount of force generated by the isolated skeletal muscle when the
frequency of stimulation was increased such that the muscle twitches did not fully relax between subsequent stimuli? Are
these results called treppe or wave summation? How well did the results compare with your prediction?
Your answer:
When the stimulation frequency was increased to the point in which muscle relaxation did not occur, the amount of force
progressively increased with each stimulus. When muscle twitches overlap, the muscles do not relax, and stimuli occur
one after another within a short timeframe. The muscle contraction is higher than if a single contraction had occurred. This is
called wave summation.
4. To achieve an active force of 5.2 g, did you have to increase the stimulus voltage above 8.5 volts? If not, how did you
achieve an active force of 5.2 g? How well did the results compare with your prediction?
Your answer:
No, I did not have to increase the stimulus voltage above 8.5 volts. In order to achieve an active force of 5.2g the stimuli
needed to be delivered in rapid succession in a short amount of time, and not allowing for full relaxation of the muscle. In
order to get 5.2g of active force, wave summation needed to be performed.
5. Compare and contrast frequency-dependent wave summation with motor unit recruitment (previously observed by
increasing the stimulus voltage). How are they similar? How was each achieved in the experiment? Explain how each is
achieved in vivo.
Your answer:
Frequency-dependent wave summation is dependent upon stimulation by the nervous system. The motor recruitment
depends upon the number of motor fibers available.