Lab 4: Contractility and Fatigue of Skeletal Muscle Flashcards
What is the objective of this lab?
to observe and measure the muscle contraction and to understand the effects of fatigue on muscle strength
What is a motor unit composed of?
a motor neuron and all the muscle fibres that are innervated by that motor unit
In a persistent muscle contraction…
multiple motor units are firing repetitively throughout the contraction
What is the strength of a muscle contraction related to?
The number of motor units in the muscle that are activated during the same period of time
What does the EMG look like during the muscle contraction period?
a burst of spike like signals where the burst is equal to the duration of the muscle contraction
The strength of a striated muscle contraction is directly proportional to…
the amount of electrical activity in the muscle
Since it is difficult to quantify the amount of electrical activity in a muscle you have to mathematically transform the raw EMG data. How can you transform this data?
by integrating the absolute values of the amplitude of the EMG spikes.
What does the transformation of the EMG data tell you?
the area under the graph of the absolute integral of the EMG is linearly proportional to the strength of the muscle contraction.
How does the EMG activity relate to the grip strength in this lab?
by plotting the max grip strength as a function and the area under the absolute integral of the EMG activity during the muscle contraction
Which forearm is being recorded for this experiment?
the subject’s dominant and non-dominant forearm
Which device is used to measure the subject’s grip strength?
a hand dynamometer
What additional results can be obtained from the recording of the grip strength and EMG activity?
the rate of fatigue in the forearms
Equipment required:
-laptop
-black iWork case:
~IXTA-ROAM unit
~C-AAMI-504 ECG cable and electrode lead wires
-disposable electrodes
-FT-220 Hand Dynamometer
-bathroom scales and large pail (5-10L)
-string
-metric ruler
Follow IXTA-ROAM setup with adding…
-plug the connector to FT-220 hand dynamometer into the A2 input of IXTA-ROAM
-plug the iWire 3BG electrode harness connector into the iWire 1 plug in the IXTA-ROAM
-connect the red, black and green lead electrode wires to the electrodes
Subject setup:
- place the red wire near the elbow
- place the black wire in the middle of the forearm
- place the green wire on the wrist
Once you open LabScribe23 what file are you opening?
-pull down settings, select Human Muscle Folder and click the setting file “EMG-GripStrength-iWireB3G”