Artificial intelligent assistant

How does the muscle return to its resting state after muscle contraction? I know that when ADP binds to the myosin head, it moves along and as it does so, it releases the ADP. The ATP attaches to the myosin head and releases the myosin head from the actin filament. Then the enzyme ATPase hydrolises the ATP to ADP, causing the myosin head to move to the original position. My question is: 1. How does the actin filament (troponin) move to its original position? Does it use a mechanism similar to a spring? 2. Is there a limit to how much the myosin head can pull the actin filament?

Christiaan has answered your first question, it is external constraints that restore the muscle `rest' shape — this is also the case for nonskeletal muscle as the bladder.

On question 2, I will give a little more details, broadly based on Huxley 1957: imagine the muscle is trying to contract against something infinitely resistive. Full contraction cannot be achieved. Myosin heads still bind to actin, but actin cannot slide wrt myosin filament, and only a local deformation is possible under this tension increment. But myosin heads don't stay bound for ever, and when one detaches, this tension increment is lost locally (there'll be heat produced, dissipating this energy), thus the global muscle tension doesn't increase further. This is a built-in limitation rather than a question of how much energy is available.

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