Nature of PEVK-titin elasticity in skeletal muscle.

ABSTRACT: A unique sequence within the giant titin molecule, the PEVK domain, has been suggested to greatly contribute to passive force development of relaxed skeletal muscle during stretch. To explore the nature of PEVK elasticity, we used titin-specific antibodies to stain both ends of the PEVK region in rat psoas myofibrils and determined the region's force-extension relation by combining immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy with isolated myofibril mechanics. We then tried to fit the results with recent models of polymer elasticity. The PEVK segment elongated substantially at sarcomere lengths above 2.4 micro(m) and reached its estimated contour length at approximately 3.5 micro(m). In immunofluorescently labeled sarcomeres stretched and released repeatedly above 3 micro(m), reversibl

SUBMITTER: Linke WA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC20927 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature