Absence of mechanical evidence for attached weakly binding cross-bridges in frog relaxed muscle fibres

1. Passive force responses to ramp stretches at various velocities were measured in intact and skinned single muscle fibres isolated from the lumbricalis muscle of the frog. Force was measured using a fast capacitance transducer and sarcomere length was measured using a laser light diffraction technique at a point very close to the fixed end so as to avoid effects of fibre inertia. Experiments were performed at 15 degrees C with sarcomere length between 2.13 and 3.27 microns under high (170 mM) and low (20 mM) ionic strength. 2. The analysis shows that the force response is the sum of at least three components: (i) elastic (force proportional to the amount of stretch), (ii) viscous (force proportional to rate of stretch), and (iii) viscoelastic (resembling the response of a pure viscous element in series with an elastic element). 3. The amplitude of all these components increased progressively with sarcomere length in the whole range measured. 4. A further component, attributable to the short-range elasticity (SREC), was present in the force response of the intact fibres. 5. The amplitude of the force response decreased substantially upon skinning at high ionic strength but increased again at low ionic strength. The SREC was completely abolished by skinning. 6. None of the components of the force response was found to have the properties expected from the previously postulated 'weakly binding bridges'.