Tetanus-induced fatigue
Tetanus is a highly energy consumptive process. While it can generate large amounts of force, this force cannot be sustained for long. In this simulation you will be looking at two types of tetanus-induced fatigue.
The first type of tetanus-induced fatigue occurs at the later stages of a burst of tetanus. If the stimuli are applied for a long time, the muscle will no longer be able to sustain the same force of contraction. This will result in a gradual decline in the force of contraction.
The second type of tetanus-induced fatigue exists when the time period between two different bursts of tetanus is too brief. In this case, the muscle has not had sufficient time to recover from the initial burst of tetanus. As you will see in this simulation, this will result in the second burst of tetanus causing a lower peak in force of contraction.
Video instructions
Please note that although this video demonstrates an older version of the simulation, it should function the same.
Instructions:
- In this experiment the only parameter you will (can) vary is the interval between two tetanic bursts of stimuli, each burst being applied for about 40 seconds.
- Start with a value of 1 minute for the delay between the two tetanic bursts. Stimulate. Record the size of the response to the second burst.
- Then systematically increase the interval. At each interval stimulate and record the size of the muscle response to the second stimulus.
Simulating fatigue
Here you can choose the time between two 2.00 V twitches. The minimum time is 1 min, and maximum is 10 min; in steps of 1 min.
What's happening as the time between twitches is changed?
Fill out the table with the values from the simulation (hovering over a point in the graph will give you the x and y values and you can round the value to the nearest integer).
| Interval | Response to second stimulus |
|---|