The physiology of insect fibrillar muscle - IV. The effect of temperature on a beetle flight muscle

Abstract

The behaviour of an insect fibrillar muscle has been studied over the temperature range 15 to 43°C. The tension/length curves for unstimulated and stimulated muscle are virtually unaffected by changes of temperature. The response of the muscle to sinusoidal changes of length is, however, markedly dependent on temperature. Rise of temperature increases the range of frequencies over which the muscle can do oscillatory work, and also increases the amount of work which it can do per oscillatory cycle. The biological and physico-chemical implications of the results are discussed.