Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 23, 2026

Ex Vivo Assessment of Contractility, Fatigability and Alternans in Isolated Skeletal Muscles
Published on: November 1, 2012
Mechanism of muscle contraction
1Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 55, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland.
Abstract:
This work is the first attempt to propose a complex model of muscle contraction in which different aspects of the sarcomere shortening are collected into a logical entity. Proposed are some suggestions to answer some fundamental questions concerning the molecular mechanism of muscle contraction, such as the following: "of which part of the myosin molecule does the crossbridge consist?", "how does the crossbridge act?", "what are two heads of the myosin molecule needed for?", "in what way is the metabolic energy of ATP converted into the mechanical work of muscle contraction?", "does the actin filament influence have a passive or active role in the process of muscle contraction?", "what is the role of the third filament - a connecting one?", "in what way is muscle relaxation generated?".
Related Concept Videos
Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Skeletal Muscles
When an action...
Actin and Myosin in Muscle Contraction
Muscle Contraction
Muscle Contraction
Cross-bridge Cycle
Smooth Muscle Contraction
The onset of contraction is triggered by an increase in calcium ions within the sarcoplasm, similar to the process in striated muscle. However, smooth muscles have a relatively smaller reservoir of the sarcoplasmic...

