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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2008 Aug 30.
Published in final edited form as: Eur Respir J. 2007 May;29(5):834–860. doi: 10.1183/09031936.00112606

FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 2

Shift in the length–force relationship of airway smooth muscle due to length adaptation. The solid curve (———) represents the length–force relationship of a muscle adapted at an arbitrarily chosen reference length (Lref). Upon shortening by an amount (X), the actively developed force decreases from A to B. After adaptation at the new length (Lref - X), usually through repeated activation and relaxation, the maximal active force for the muscle at the new length recovers to the level before the length change (C), and the muscle now possesses a new length–force relationship (- - - - -).