Kelly is examining a myogram showing contractions of the gastrocnemius muscle. Assess how she should differentiate unfused (incomplete) tetanus from fused (complete) tetanus

What will be an ideal response?


On the myogram, although maximum tension can be achieved, the muscle has opportunities to partially relax between contractions. Pulsating tension results (unfused tetanus) in which the muscle relaxes slightly, then tension increases a little more with each successive muscle twitch. Muscles experiencing fused tetanus have no opportunity for relaxation between stimuli since the stimuli arrive more frequently at the muscle (approximately 80-100 stimuli per second). On the myogram, maximum tension would be achieved through fused tetanus while the muscle experiences a sustained contraction without relaxation.

Anatomy & Physiology

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