EFFECT OF MECHANICAL VIBRATION ON ACTIVE TENSION IN THE LONGITUDINAL RETRACTOR MUSCLE OF A SEA CUCUMBER STICHOPUS JAPONICUS

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1. The effect of mechanical vibration on active tension in an echinoderm somatic smooth muscle was studied using the longitudinal retractor muscle (LRM) of a sea cucumber Stichopus japonicus. 2. The steady contracture tension in LRM fibres maximally activated with 10(-3) mol l-1 acetylcholine (ACh) was reduced by vibrations (peak-to-peak amplitude, 0.5­2.5 % of l0, where l0 is the slack length of the muscle; frequency, 5­100 Hz). The extent of reduction of active contracture tension increased with increasing amplitude of vibration, but it did not change appreciably with increasing frequency of vibration. 3. The steady contracture tension in LRM fibres submaximally activated with 10(-5) mol l-1 ACh was more markedly reduced by vibrations than was that in maximally activated fibres. 4. The vibration-induced reduction of active contracture tension disappeared when temperature was lowered from 20­23 to 0 °C. 5. The development of contracture tension in LRM fibres activated with ACh was not affected by mechanical vibration. 6. These results are discussed in connection with the vibration-induced decrease in the rate of breakage of the actin­myosin linkages responsible for isometric force generation.