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CONDUCTION VELOCITY
OBJECTIVES:
Measure nerve conduction velocity from
difference in latencies between responses evoked
by nerve stimulation at wrist and elbow.
Setup:
Position Bar Stimulus Electrode on medial aspect of
front of elbow (Antecubital fossa).
Se t the current in the stimulator panel to 8mA
Once you have found the best position for the bar
stimulus electrode, increase the stimulus to 1520mA. Click start. Repeat several times.
When you do you stop? - When the muscle starts
contracting. It means
you have reached the threshold stimulus.
Compute for nerve conduction velocity?
Velocity = Distance/Latency timeWhere Latency
time= Elbow-WristTherefore, Velocity = 0.235m/
(0.008s-0.004s) Velocity= 58.75 m/s
Based on the nerve conduction velocity, classify the
Median nerve.
The Median nerve is fiber type A for sensing touch
and pressure as the conduction velocity computed,
58.75m/s falls in the range of 30-70 m/s.
EXERCISE 4- TETANUS
. Define tetanus. At which stimulus interval did you
observe tetanus? Explain the mechanism behind
this phenomenon.
A tetanus/tetanic contraction occurswhen a motor
unit has been maximally stimulated by its motor
neuron. This occurs when a muscle's motor unit has
been stimulated by multiple impulses at a sufficiently
high frequency. Each stimulus causes a twitch. If
stimuli are delivered at low frequency, the tension in
the muscle will relax between successive twitches. If
stimuli are delivered at high frequency, then the
twitches will run together, resulting in tetanic
contraction. When tetanized, the contracting tension
in the muscle remains constant in a steady state.
Graphically, it has a plateau-like appearance
signifying constant delivery of stimulus and
contraction of muscle. Because of the continuous
and constant contraction through stimulation, the
calcium ions are no longer able to return to the
sarcoplasmic reticulum disabling the muscle to
relax.
2. What do you call the frequency used to induce
tetanus? Tetanic Frequency or Fusion frequency.
This is the minimum stimulus required to elicit
tetanus in a muscle
3. Describe how the isolated muscle behaved as the
stimulus interval was further decreased?
At lower stimulus interval, the muscle was observed
to have frequent cycles of contractions and
relaxations At higher stimulus intervals, the muscle
was observed to be in a constant state of
contraction
EXERCISE 5 FATIGUE
1. Describe how the isolated muscle behaved with
continued high frequency stimulation.The muscle
was observed to be in a tetanic state until the
contractions began to continually decrease in
intensity.
2. Provide the possible mechanism as to why the
muscle was unable to maintain a prolonged
contraction.There are two types of fatigue, high
frequency and low frequency fatigue. The
experiment showed a high frequency fatigue,
therefore, there was NO accumulation of lactic acid
as there was not enough time for such event to
occur. However, there was a failure of conduction of
the action potential because of the very high
frequency.
* When a failure of action potential conduction
occurs, what could be a possible consequence?The
calcium ions will not be released because you need
action potential conduction through your T tubule in
order to release said ions. However, if you let the
muscle rest, it will recover very quickly as compared
to low frequency where recovery is very difficult.
3. Would your results have differed if you were
measuring from a smooth muscle? Why or why not?
Yes. Smooth muscles are mainly composed of Type
1 Motor Units, making smooth muscles slow to
fatigue with a lower maximum contraction velocity.
They are highly vascularized have more
mitochondria than skeletal muscle fibers.