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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2008 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Drug Discov Today Dis Models. 2007;4(3):131–137. doi: 10.1016/j.ddmod.2007.12.003

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3

Smooth muscle response to large-scale force and length perturbations shows non-reversible behavior attributable to cytoskeletal remodeling. A: Muscle length vs. time during stimulation with acetylcholine. The first 120 min correspond to an isotonic shortening at F = 0.32 F0. The muscle lengthens in response to sinusoidal force perturbations with amplitudes between 4% and 32% of maximum force (F0) around a mean force of 0.32 F0. After force perturbations are reduced to 8%, the muscle shortens incompletely (arrow). Adapted from Ref. [5]. B: Force vs. time during an isometric contraction at length L = L0. After 10 min, the muscle length is reduced to 0.7 L0. The subsequent force recovery is incomplete (arrow). Adapted from Ref. [12].