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

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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 2.72 0.00 2.72
8.5 75 Multiple 2.31 0.00 2.31
8.5 75 Multiple 3.30 0.00 3.30
10 75 Multiple 3.20 0.00 3.20
8.5 75 Multiple 5.69 0.00 5.69

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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:
La intensidad de estimulo es la accion que se ejerce sobre el musculo
La frecuencia de estimulo es aplicar la accion pero en un periodo de tiempo establecido

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:
Incrementeando la frecuencia de estimulos, en periodos mas cortos se obtenia una mayor fuerza por parte del musculo

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:
al incrementar la frecuencia de estimulos se dio lo que conocemos como efecto escalera es decir, cada contracción
produce una fuerza ligeramente mayor que la anterior siempre y cuando el músculo se pueda relajar completamente entre
estímulos relativamente próximos.

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:
Se logro aumentar la fuerza del musculo porque elevamos la frecuencia de estimulos

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:
la frecuencia depende de la sumacion de impulsos que se pueda dar, estos generaran una fuerza segun sea la frecuencia,
pero otra variable a tener en cuenta es la intensidad del voltaje para el efecto escalera, por ejemplo al aumentar el voltaje a
10, este voltaje no dio oportunidad para que el musculo se relaje y continue eficientemente el efecto, en cambio con un
voltaje de 8.5 (voltaje maximo) si dio oportunidad para que el musculo se relaje y siga con el efecto.

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