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Contractile properties of the obliquely-striated mantle muscles used by squid for jet propulsion

Reference	S04250
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Nancy Curtin
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr M Whitfield
Institution	Marine Biological Association
Department	Marine Biological Association Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	59,153
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	14/08/1995
End date	14/08/1997
Duration	24 months

Abstract

The aim is to develop an isolated preparation of the mantle muscle of squid and to use it to study obliquely-striated muscle. The two mantle layers, which contain muscle cells with different mitochondrial contents, will be investigated separately. Their properties may be analogous to those of fish red and white muscle. We start from methods devised in preliminary work where viable muscle strips were cut with a vibrotome and gave repeatable contractions. Contraction will be studied by measuring force and power output during controlled stimulation and length changes. Length changes of the unstimulated preparation will also be studied since the elastic properties of the connective tissue network in the mantle have an important role in re- extending the mantle during refilling. Changes in filament overlap and obliquity will be studied by electron microscopy of muscle quick-frozen during contraction. The pattern of innervation, and the degree of cell coupling will be investigated electrophysiologically and by using dyes as intracellular markers.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Animal Sciences (AS)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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