Mechanism of post-tetanic depression of slow muscle fibres.

Abstract

A brief tetanic stimulation has a very different effect on the subsequent isometric twitch force of fast and slow skeletal muscles. Fast muscle responds with an enhanced twitch force which doubles that of the pre-tetanic value, whereas slow muscle depresses the post-tetanic twitch by about 20%. Twitch potentiation of fast muscle has long been known to be due to myosin light chain 2 phosphorylation. It is proposed that post-tetanic twitch depression in slow muscle is due to the dephosphorylation of the slow isoform of the thick filament protein, myosin-binding protein-C, by Ca²⁺/calmodulin-activated phosphatase calcineurin, whilst its phosphorylation underlies the force enhancement due to β-adrenergic stimulation in slow and fast muscle.