drtbear1967
Musclechemistry Board Certified Member
How can a rowing boat explain muscle contraction?
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If you've never been able to understand π‘π¨π° muscle contraction actually occurs, thinking of a rowing boat will definitely help you out. β£
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Why? Because the rowing boat follows very similar mechanics! β£
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First of all, let's see how muscle contraction works. There are several steps to go through, and for the sake of making it easily accessible to everyone, i'll try to make is as short as possible!
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[FONT=-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Anyway, as I said, muscle contractions goes through several steps, yet this number of actions happens within milliseconds![/FONT]
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1) Calcium is released by the terminal cisternae in the Sarcoplasmic Reticulum, which binds to the Troponin, causing a "conformational change" and allowing the Actin binding-sites to be exposed. β£
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[FONT=-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]2) Normally, Myosin heads carry ATP which keeps them detached from Actin, however as ATP is hydrolyzed in ADP and inorganic phosphate, Myosin heads bind to the binding site of Actin. β£[/FONT]
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3) ADP and inorganic phosphate are then released from the Myosin heads, causing "the power stroke", which is basically π΅π©π¦ π§ππ¦πΉπͺπ°π― π°π§ π΅π©π¦ ππΊπ°π΄πͺπ― π©π¦π’π₯ π΅π°πΈπ’π³π₯π΄ π΅π©π¦ π°π±π±π°π΄πͺπ―π¨ π₯πͺπ³π¦π€π΅πͺπ°π―, causing the Actin to slide across. β£
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4) ATP binds to the Myosin head again and causes the' heads' to detach from the Actin. β£
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[FONT=-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]This ATP is then re-hydrolyzed in ADP and inorganic phosphate and causes the head to bind to the Actin and so on. As the Myosin Head "pulls" the actin for a short distance, it needs to be "re-cocked" in order to repeat the process. This of course, requires more ATP![/FONT]
[FONT=-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The whole mechanics of this process resample a rowing boat, which is how you can think about Myosin heads binding on Actin creating cross-bridges. β£[/FONT]
β£β£β£
If you've never been able to understand π‘π¨π° muscle contraction actually occurs, thinking of a rowing boat will definitely help you out. β£
β£
Why? Because the rowing boat follows very similar mechanics! β£
β£
First of all, let's see how muscle contraction works. There are several steps to go through, and for the sake of making it easily accessible to everyone, i'll try to make is as short as possible!β£
[FONT=-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Anyway, as I said, muscle contractions goes through several steps, yet this number of actions happens within milliseconds![/FONT]
β£
1) Calcium is released by the terminal cisternae in the Sarcoplasmic Reticulum, which binds to the Troponin, causing a "conformational change" and allowing the Actin binding-sites to be exposed. β£
β£
[FONT=-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]2) Normally, Myosin heads carry ATP which keeps them detached from Actin, however as ATP is hydrolyzed in ADP and inorganic phosphate, Myosin heads bind to the binding site of Actin. β£[/FONT]
β£
3) ADP and inorganic phosphate are then released from the Myosin heads, causing "the power stroke", which is basically π΅π©π¦ π§ππ¦πΉπͺπ°π― π°π§ π΅π©π¦ ππΊπ°π΄πͺπ― π©π¦π’π₯ π΅π°πΈπ’π³π₯π΄ π΅π©π¦ π°π±π±π°π΄πͺπ―π¨ π₯πͺπ³π¦π€π΅πͺπ°π―, causing the Actin to slide across. β£
β£
4) ATP binds to the Myosin head again and causes the' heads' to detach from the Actin. β£
β£
[FONT=-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]This ATP is then re-hydrolyzed in ADP and inorganic phosphate and causes the head to bind to the Actin and so on. As the Myosin Head "pulls" the actin for a short distance, it needs to be "re-cocked" in order to repeat the process. This of course, requires more ATP![/FONT]
[FONT=-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Segoe UI, Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The whole mechanics of this process resample a rowing boat, which is how you can think about Myosin heads binding on Actin creating cross-bridges. β£[/FONT]
