Smooth Muscle Propagation Flashcards
What do slow oscillations in the membrane potential reflect?
Activity of electrogenic pumps in cell membrane
What can tonic contractile activity be related to?
Value of membrane potential in absence of APs
What is pharmaco-mechanical coupling?
Changes in force produced by addition or removal of drugs or hormones that have no significant effect on membrane potential
What do the lack of striations enable smooth muscle to do?
Smooth muscle cells can generate normal active tension over a very wide range of changes in length
What are smooth muscle’s variable force-velocity
relationships determined by?
Level of ca2+ stimulated cross-bridge phosphorylation
What are maximal shortening velocities with no load dependent on?
Cross-bridge phosphorylation by MLCK
What does an actin filament lattice consist of?
Actin filaments attached to dense plaques and dense bodies
What does a contractile unit consist of?
Myosin filament sandwiched between 2 actin filaments and associated dense bodies/plaques
