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Updated: Feb 23, 2026

Ex Vivo Assessment of Contractility, Fatigability and Alternans in Isolated Skeletal Muscles
Published on: November 1, 2012
The adaptive response of skeletal muscle: What is the evidence?
1Department of Musculoskeletal Biology, Institute of Ageing & Chronic Diseases, University of Liverpool, William Henry Duncan Building, 6 West Derby Street, Liverpool, L7 8TX, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Adult skeletal muscle is capable of adapting its properties in response to changing functional demands. This now sounds like a statement of the obvious, and many people assume it has always been this way. A mere 40 years ago, however, the picture was entirely different. In this Review and personal memoir, I outline the scientific context in which the theory was generated, the objections to it from entrenched opinion, and the way those objections were progressively met. The material should be of some historical interest, but, more importantly, it collects together the full range of evidence on which the current paradigm is based. Muscle Nerve 57: 531-541, 2018.
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