ABSTRACT
The effect of fatigue was studied on rat skeletal muscle efficiency during maximal dynamic exercise of 10s duration. After the initial 4s of exercise, power output decreased rapidly to 46.2 +/- 6.7% (mean +/- SD; n = 6) after 6s of stimulation and further to 17.5 +/- 5.8% in the last contraction. Both the rates of total work output and high-energy phosphate consumption decreased with increasing exercise duration. As a result muscle efficiency was not affected by exercise time in the present experiments. This result indicates that fatigue in severe maximal exercise is induced by a feed-back mechanism, which in the case of high ATP utilisation rates will reduce ATP splitting probably by reducing Ca(2+)-release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
Subject(s)
Muscle Fatigue/physiology , Muscle, Skeletal/physiology , Animals , Male , Physical Conditioning, Animal , Rats , Rats, Wistar , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Twitch force production was normal in muscles of mice which lack MM-creatine kinase, but the tetanic force:twitch force ratio was lower than in control muscles (3.60 vs 4.27; P < 0.05). In a series of repeated tetanic contractions the force in the second contraction was already markedly depressed (20-50%), while subsequently only small changes were observed. The effect was greater in exercise that would require a higher metabolic peak flux. The depressed force production was not accompanied by a slowing of relaxation, indicating that enough ATP was present to sustain myofibrillar ATPase and Ca(2+)-ATPase activity.
Subject(s)
Creatine Kinase/deficiency , Muscle Contraction/physiology , Adenosine Triphosphatases/metabolism , Adenosine Triphosphate/metabolism , Animals , Creatine Kinase/metabolism , Female , Isoenzymes , Isometric Contraction/physiology , Mice , Mice, Inbred Strains , Muscle Relaxation , Muscle, Skeletal/enzymology , Muscle, Skeletal/physiology , Physical ExertionABSTRACT
The relationship between changes in work output (fatigue) and metabolite concentrations was measured in rat skeletal muscle during the course of dynamic exercise (10 s). After 4 s, work output decreased rapidly to approximately 30% at 8 s. In contrast to the changes in phosphocreatine and lactate, the change in ATP concentration paralleled the reduction in work output. A strong linear relationship (r = 0.95) was found between the relative decrease in ATP and the extent of fatigue. Possible mechanisms underlying this relationship are discussed.
