Exercise 2. Activity 3.

Summation

is the adding together of individual twitch contractions to increase the intensity of overall muscle contraction.

Muscle fiber summation

It is also called as quantal summation,

graded response and recruitment of motor units the degree of contraction of a skeletal muscle is influenced by the number of motor units being stimulated. Skeletal muscles consist of numerous motor units and, therefore, stimulating more motor units creates a stronger contraction. It is generated by applying several stimuli of increasing intensity

Muscle Response to Stronger Stimuli: Multiple Motor Unit Summation (Recruitment)

Size principle

Motor units are generally recruited in order of smallest to largest (smallest motor neurons to largest motor neurons (and thus slow to fast twitch) as contraction increases.

Recruitment of Motor Neurons: The Size Principle

Frequency summation
(Specific type of Summation in Activity 3) Can lead to tetanization Wave Summation - an increase in the frequency

with which a muscle is stimulated increases the force of contraction. With rapid stimulation (so rapid that a muscle does not completely relax between successive stimulations), a muscle fiber is restimulated while there is still some contractile activity. As a result, there is a 'summation' of the contractile force. In addition, with rapid stimulation there isn't enough time between successive stimulations to remove all the calcium from the sarcoplasm. So, with several stimulations in rapid succession, calcium levels in the sarcoplasm increase. More calcium means more active crossbridges and, therefore, a stronger contraction.

If a muscle fiber is stimulated so rapidly that it does not relax at all between stimuli, a smooth, sustained contraction called tetanus occurs.

Muscle Response to Increased Frequency of Stimulation: Wave Summation

Treppe or Staircase effect

It occurs when a series of maximal stimuli is delivered to the skeletal muscle at a frequency below the tetanizing frequency. There is an increase tension developed during each twitch until, after several contractions a uniform tension per contraction is reached. It is due to an increase availability of Ca++ for binding to Troponin C.

Treppe