Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 4.72
Variation of length of 100 C-PAN-G fibers in fiber bundle form with time in
a 0.2-m
N
NaCl cell under an imposed electric field (1PAN-2G ratio, 100 fibers).
FIGURE 4.73
Variation of length of PAN-graphite muscle with time in a 0.2-m
N
NaCl cell
under a voltage of 20 V (1PAN-2G ratio, 50 fibers).
fundamental building blocks are microsized contractile units called
sarcomeres
, as
shown in figure 4.63. They contain three filament types: thick, thin, and connecting.
There has been a consensus that the muscle contraction is based upon thick and thin
filaments' interaction. Connecting filaments link the thick filament to the end points
of the sarcomere being served as molecular spring. Such filaments are polymeric
materials: thin—monomeric
actin
, thick—
myosin
, and connecting—vertebrates
titin
protein. With water, they form a gel-like lattice.
The textbook mechanism of muscle contraction is based upon the concept of
“sliding filaments” where nanomotor (cross-bridge) rotation drives thin filament past
