Optical diffraction reveals that the effective working stroke of a muscle crossbridge is up to 12 nanometers, occurring within 1 millisecond.
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No immediate clinical implications for cardiac function; leaves open whether the 12-nm crossbridge stroke applies to human myocardium.
Optical diffraction measurements during rapid releases of active toad muscle show that the sarcomeres contract within 1 millisecond by an amount up to but not greater than 12 nanometers. This distance is identified with the effective working stroke of a crossbridge. The crossbridges immediately start cycling to produce the normal contraction velocity in unloaded muscle.
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Barden et al. (1978) studied this question.
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