A model of stress relaxation in cross-bridge systems: effect of a series elastic element

Many experimental protocols employed in the study of muscle mechanics use tension transients as a probe of the magnitudes of the kinetic rates in the underlying cross-bridge dynamics. These transients could potentially be modified by the elastic elements that exist both within the fiber and at the points of attachment to the experimental apparatus. To better understand the magnitude of such modifications, we have used computer simulation to investigate the transients that would be expected for cross bridges acting on an actin filament attached to an elastic element. The original model of cross-bridge mechanics by A.F. Huxley was used (Prog. Biophys. 7: 255-318, 1957). After an isometric equilibrium is achieved, a tension transient is produced by changing the dissociation rate constant, g1, while holding the attachment rate constant, f1, fixed. This decreases the number of attached, force-producing cross bridges. We find that the tension transients are markedly slowed by the presence of even a few (> or = 2) nanometers of series elastic strain per half-sarcomere. Thus some rate constants inferred from mechanical transients (e.g., those induced by caged ligands) may underestimate the actual kinetic rates of the cross-bridge processes.