POWERLAB EXPERIMENT ON NERVE

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.

EXPERIMENT II: PHYSIOLOGIC PROPERTIES OF

A NERVE
Ringers solution is a standard isotonic solution used
to make sure that the muscle is still alive during the
experiment.
While tying the nerve with a ligature,
mechanical stimulus was applied, eliciting a
response through muscle contraction.
Why are you observing the muscle when procedures
are done on the nerve? Visible response during
electrical stimulation of the nerve is demonstrated by
the contraction of the muscle. It is the action
potential generated by the nerve that travels toward
the muscle, which causes the contraction.
Define threshold stimulus. Threshold stimulus is the
minimum stimulus or voltage required to elicit a
response.
Is there a difference in the response when
stimulation is done at the free end of the nerve or
proximal to the ligature? Yes. There was no
response during stimulation of the free end of the
nerve. Muscle contraction was observed when nerve
proximal to ligature was stimulated.
What is the effect of the ligature?
The ligature disrupts the surface membrane of the
nerve, negatively affecting the conductivity of the
nerve. Proximal to the ligature, the nerve is highly
conductible as the surface is still intact.

At the site of the ligature what phase of action

potential if the membrane in? Depolarization. There
was no repolarization because the gated channels
were destroyed by the ligature.
What physiologic property/ies of a nerve was/were
exhibited in this experiment and in which
procedure/s?
Excitability is the ability of the nerve to produce an
action potential in response to astimuli. Conductivity
is the ability of the nerve to transmit/propagate the
action potential.
What does the experiment prove regarding
conductivity in nerve?As the nerve was electrically
stimulated, it was able to generate an action
potential (excitability) that has propagated
(conductivity) along the surface of the nerve
membrane, as the voltage-gated channels are
located there. In the experiment, it was also
demonstrated that nerve conductivity can be
affected by different factors, such as mechanical
obstruction of the membrane. Ligature serves as the
mechanical stress to the nerve that impeded the
transmission of the action potential from the nerve to
the muscle, preventing the muscle to contract.
What conditions are necessary for conduction of
impulses along the nerve?
Stimuli reaches or surpasses threshold Membrane is
intact and not depolarizedIon channels are intact
Necessary ions are available (Ringers solution or
ECF simulator)

C. EXPERIMENT III: EXPERIMENT ON THE

ACTION OF SUCCINYLCHOLINE
Compare the levels of the threshold of nerve and
muscle. The resting potential of muscles (-90 mV) is
lower than that of nerves (-70 mV). The main
function of nerves is to be excitable and be able to
conduct impulses. Because of this, nerves are more
excitable and responsive and have faster
conductions than of muscles.
Why did we tie the left thigh?The left thigh was tied
so that succinylcholine will not circulate in the thigh.
Assuming the succinylcholine was prevented from
circulating in the leg, the expected result is that the
left muscle would still contract after the injection of
succinylcholine.
Based on your observation, where is the probable
site of action of succinylcholine? What is its
mechanism of action?The site of action of
succinylcholine is the neuromuscular junction.
Succinylcholine is a competitive inhibitor of
acetylcholine for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.
Succinylcholine would stay bound to the receptors
becauseacetylcholinesterase will be unable to
degrade succinylcholine. Repolarization is therefore
blocked and will cause paralysis.

Enumerate the sequence of events that occur in the

NMJ.
i. Action potential in the motor axon is conducted
into the presynaptic terminal.
ii. Increase in Ca2+ conductance at the prejunctional membrane and an influx of Ca2+ into the
nerve terminal.
iii. Fusion of presynaptic vesicles with plasma
membrane of presynaptic membrane and release of
Ach through exocytosis.
iv. Diffusion of Ach across synaptic cleft.v. Binding of
Ach to specific receptor in the
postsynaptic membrane.vi. Activation of ligandgated channels by the
binding of the neurotransmittervii. Increase in
conductance of postsynaptic
membrane to both K+ and Na+.viii. Transient
depolarization of the postsynaptic
membrane known as end plate potential.
Which step in Excitation-Contraction-Coupling is
affected?Excitation, because succinylcholine
competes with acetylcholine for the nicotinic
receptors.
Give an example of non-depolarizing muscle
relaxant.
Curare

EXPERIMENT IV: SOME FACTORS AFFECTING

HEIGHT OF MUSCLE CONTRACTION
(STIMULUS STRENGTH)
What was the smallest voltage required to produce a
contraction (The threshold voltage)?
What was the smallest voltage required to produce
the maximum (largest) contraction?What proportion
of the fibers in the muscles do you think were
contracting to produce this maximal response?
The highest muscle contraction even with increasing
stimuli is the maximum contraction.
At this voltage the fast twitch muscle fibers
innervated by the larger motor units are recruited.
Thus at this point, all muscle fibers both the slow
twitch and fast twitch are contracting.
What does the height of contraction represent? It
represents the strength of stimulus. As the stimulus
increases, the contraction height also increases.
What happened to the number of fibers contracting
as the voltage was raised from threshold to that
required to produce a maximal contraction? The
number of fibers contracting increased as the
voltage was raised up to the point where ALL motor
units have been recruited and no increase in muscle
contraction is seen even if there is increase in
stimulation.
Give the relationship between the strength of
stimulus and height of contraction. Does it nullify the
all or none principle? The relationship is directly
proportional. The All-or-None principle states that

under given conditions the response of a nerve or

muscle fiber to stimulus at any strength above the
threshold is the same: the muscle responds
completely or none at all. It does not nullify the Allor-None principle. This principle only refers to a
muscle fiber and not the whole muscle. Graded
response is due to the fact that individual muscle
fibers within a muscle differ from one another in their
threshold.
If a plateau is produced in your tracing, explain its
occurrence. What type of stimulus strength was
delivered to the muscle? What type of summation is
demonstrated?
If a plateau is produced, it means that all motor units
at specific stimulus (supramaximal) are recruited for
a specific action. This recruitment is also known as
the spatial summation. After the supramaximal,
there is no more additional response despite the
increase in stimulus.
EXERCISE 2- EFFECT OF STRETCH
1. What effects does stretching the muscle have on
contraction strength? Is this effect linear?Stretching
the muscle increases the force of muscle contraction
until the optimum length is reached. This effect
however is not linear as the contraction begins to
weaken after the optimum point.
2. What stretch resulted in the highest contraction
force? What happens to the muscle at the highest
stretch levels?At 10mm stretch the force of
contraction is still increasing so it is safe to assume
that the highest contraction force is beyond 10mm
stretch. At optimum level where contraction is
greatest, there is the greatest number of cross-

bridges formed due to the large availability of active

sites. Beyond optimum the number of cross-bridges
begins to fall, decreasing contraction strength.
3. Differentiate preload from afterload.
Preload is the load on the muscle before muscle
contraction. It determines the initial length of the
muscle. It is the optimum length resting length
Afterload is the load on the muscle after the
beginning of muscle contraction. It does not change
the initial length of the muscle.
Explain the relationship between initial length and
height of contraction.It is theoretically a bell-shaped
curve. The peak of the curve is the optimal length of
the muscle which generates the most force. The
force-stretch relationship is directly proportional until
optimal stretched is reach. Beyond the optimum, the
relationship becomes inverse.
What is the optimal length of the sarcomere?
The optimal length of the sarcomere is the resting
length. 2.0-2.2 micrometers
Differentiate passive tension from active tension.
Passive tension is the tension due to the elastic
tissue in the muscle.
EXERCISE 3 - SUMMATION
1.How does varying the frequency effect contraction
force? Which interval caused the greatest
contraction?As the frequency between stimulation is
increased, the two peaks eventually fused to form a
contraction larger than each individual peak. This
effect is termed summation. The 20ms interval had
the greatest force produced.

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.

EXERCISE 6- RELATION OF LOAD AND HEIGHT

OF CONTRACTION
1. What is the relationship between the load and
height of contraction?The more you increase the
weight, the greater the height of the contraction is.
2. Multiply the height of contraction against the load
to determine the maximal load and optimal load.*
How do you compute for work?
- Work = Force x Distance* How do you compute for
work in this set up?- The height of contraction is
your distance.- At Load = 0, work = 0, this, therefore
is not optimal.
3. No work is performed by the muscle at which
weight?Work is zero, when there is no load or when
there is no contraction (thus, no height) because the
muscle can no longer carry the weight
4. What other factor affecting height of contraction
may produce similar tracing on muscle contraction?
How is this factor controlled in the experiment?The
factors were muscle fatigue, and muscle freshness.
These were controlled by resting the muscle for 35
seconds and by applying Ringers solution
respectively.
5. What is the rationale for adjusting the after load
screw?To factor in muscle stretching thus minimizing
false results displayed by the stretch not by the load
applied.

EXPERIMENT V: ISOMETRIC AND ISOTONIC

CONTRACTION
Instrument: Dumbbell, Handrip
Instrument: Dumbbell
1. Explain why one can no longer flex elbow to the
whole ROM (range of movement) beyond the 1 RM.
At 1 RM, all of the muscle fibers are contracted to
carry the load. At this point, any increase in
resistance (>1 RM) restricts reaching the full range
of movement since there are no more muscle fibers
to contract.
Instrument: Hand Grip1. Differentiate isotonic from
isomeric
contraction. Enumerate examples of movement that
will demonstrate each type of muscle contraction.
Isotonic contraction occurs when there is a
shortening of the muscle given tension or
resistance.
Isometric contraction occurs when tension is
produced with no change in muscle length Lifting a
bag of groceries from the floor demonstrates
isotonic contraction, while gripping the bag to
prevent it from dropping demonstrates isometric
contraction.
2. Were you able to sustain the grip on the handle
for 10 minutes? If not, why? No.Prolonged
contraction causes fatigue in the muscles. The ATP
and oxygen in the muscles are depleted and enters
an anaerobic state that produces lactic acid as a
metabolite.