Different myofilament nearest-neighbor interactions have distinctive effects on contractile behavior

Cooperativity in contractile behavior of myofilament systems almost assuredly arises because of interactions between neighboring sites. These interactions may be of different kinds. Tropomyosin thin-filament regulatory units may have neighbors in steric blocking positions (off) or steric permissive positions (on). The position of these neighbors influence the tendency for the regulatory unit to assume the on or off state. Likewise, the tendency of a myosin cross-bridge to achieve a force-bearing state may be influenced by whether neighboring cross-bridges are in force-bearing states. Also, a cross-bridge in the force-bearing state may influence the tendency of a regulatory unit to enter the on state. We used a mathematical model to examine the influence of each of these three kinds of neighbor interactions on the steady-state force-pCa relation and on the dynamic force redevelopment process. Each neighbor interaction was unique in its effects on maximal Ca(2+)-activated force, position, and symmetry of the force-pCa curve and on the Hill coefficient. Also, each neighbor interaction had a distinctive effect on the time course of force development as assessed by its rate coefficient, k(dev). These diverse effects suggest that variations in all three kinds of nearest-neighbor interactions may be responsible for a wide variety of currently unexplained observations of myofilament contractile behavior.