Myosin Filaments in Vertebrate Smooth Muscle

THE sliding filament mechanism for muscular contraction was first established in the case of vertebrate striated muscle 1,2 . Shortly afterwards good evidence for the existence of a similar mechanism was obtained in a molluscan smooth muscle 3 . Attempts to explain contraction in vertebrate smooth m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1970-03, Vol.225 (5237), p.1053-1054
Main Authors: LOWY, J, POULSEN, F. R, VIBERT, P. J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Guinea Pigs
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
multidisciplinary
Muscle Proteins - analysis
Muscle, Smooth - analysis
Myofibrils - analysis
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
X-Ray Diffraction
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Summary:THE sliding filament mechanism for muscular contraction was first established in the case of vertebrate striated muscle 1,2 . Shortly afterwards good evidence for the existence of a similar mechanism was obtained in a molluscan smooth muscle 3 . Attempts to explain contraction in vertebrate smooth muscle, however, met with considerable difficulties, mainly because of uncertainty about the state of myosin in the living relaxed muscle. This still cannot be decided from the biochemical 4–6 , electron optical 7–16 and X-ray diffraction 17–19 evidence available so far. Here we present evidence from X-ray diffraction studies suggesting that in living relaxed vertebrate smooth muscle myosin is present in the form of filaments.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/2251053a0