Sarcomere dynamics during muscular contraction and their implications to muscle function

Abstract

This article attempts to identify the key aspects of sarcomere inhomogeneity and the dynamics of sarcomere length changes in muscle contraction experiments and focuses on understanding the mechanics of myofibrils or muscle fibres when viewed as independent units of biological motors (the half-sarcomeres) connected in series. Muscle force generation has been interpreted traditionally on the basis of the kinetics of crossbridge cycling, i.e. binding of myosin heads to actin and consecutive force generating conformational change of the head, under controlled conditions and assuming uniformity of sarcomere or half-sarcomere behaviour. However, several studies have shown that re-distribution of internal strain within myofibrils and muscle fibres may be a key player, particularly, during stretch or relaxation so that force kinetics parameters are strongly affected by sarcomere dynamics. Here, we aim to shed light on how force generation, crossbridge kinetics, and the complex sarcomere movements are to be linked and which mechanical concepts are necessary to develop a comprehensive contraction model of a myofibril.