Dr.

Niranjan Murthy H L
Asst. Prof., Dept. of Physiology
Sree Siddhartha Medical College & Hospital, Tumkur
 PROPERTIES OF
SKELETAL MUSCLE
1. EXCITABILITY

3. CONTRACTILITY

5. CONDUCTIVITY

7. TONICITY
 I.EXCITABILITY
Def: It is the change in potential and the
consequent responses inherent to the
tissues, in response to a stimulus.
Stimulus: It is the change in the external
environment bringing about excitation in an
excitable tissue.
 TYPES OF STIMULUS
• Electrical- commonly used in labs
• Mechanical
• Thermal
• Chemical
• Electro-magnetic
 QUALITY OF STIMULUS
• Strength of stimulus- subminimal, minimal
(threshold), submaximal, maximal and
supramaximal

• Duration of stimulus
STRENGTH-DURATION
CURVE
Strength (mv)

2R

RHEOBASE
U.T
DURATION IN ms
• Rheobase: the minimum strength of the current
acting on the muscle for a variable period that can
bring about a response.
• Utilization time: the minimum duration for which
a current of rheobase strength is applied to excite
an excitable tissue
• Chronaxie: is defined as the shortest duration of
stimulus required to excite a tissue by a current
strength equal to twice of rheobase voltage.
• Chronaxie of a tissue is a definite measure of its
excitability.
 II.CONTRACTILITY
• Def: internal events of the muscle which are
manifested by shortening or development of
tension or both.

• Types of contraction:
1) isotonic contraction
2) isometric contraction
• Muscle-twitch (simple
muscle curve): The
contraction and relaxation
of skeletal muscle in
response to a single
adequate stimulus
–All or None response
•An individual muscle
fiber exhibits
contraction of an
uniform intensity once
their particular
threshold has been
reached
 FACTORS AFFECTING
CONTRACTION
• Strength of stimuli- Quantal summation
• Effect of multiple stimuli:
1)effect of 2 successive stimuli:
i) beneficial effect
ii) superposition
iii) summation
2) more than two stimuli:
i) clonus
ii) tetanus
iii) treppe
iv) fatigue
c) Effect of temperature
– Super-position
• The second contraction develops a greater
tension than the first one if the second stimulus
is applied before the relaxation is complete in
the first one.
– Availability of more Ca++
– Ca ++ from the first contraction is not
completely pumped into the SR
– Second stimulus releases Ca ++ and adds to
the remaining Ca ++ from the first contraction
–Treppe or Stair case effect
•After a period of rest, sudden series of stimulation
results in a series of contraction that increases in
amplitude until a steady state is reached.
•Due to redistribution of intra cellular Ca ++ / more
Ca ++ availability
 FATIGUE
• Def: it is a decrease in the performance due
to continuous and prolonged activity

• Site of fatigue: CNS is the first site of

fatigue even though the muscle itself can
undergo fatigue.

• Nerve is indefatigable
 The Skeletal muscle can be
Tetanized – Why ?
– Changes in excitability of a muscle during
contraction relaxation coupling
• Duration of Skeletal muscle AP = 5 ms
• The muscle like nerve has
– ARP
– RRP
– Supra normal period – long negative AP
during which the muscle is hyper
excitable
• Effect of load on muscle contraction
• 1. Free-load
• 2. After-load
• Effect of temperature on muscle contraction
• 1. Heat rigor
• 2. Cold rigor
• 3. Calcium rigor
• 4. Rigor mortis
 III. CONDUCTIVITY
• velocity of action potential conduction
across skeletal muscle is 5m/sec

• in nerves it is up to 120m/sec

• conduction is along the sarcolemma and

moves along the T-tubules
 IV.TONICITY

• Def: it is the state of partial contraction of

the muscle
• Reflex phenomenon
• Resistance encountered on passive
stretching of muscle
• Rigidity
• Spasticity