LABORATORY

EXERCISE NO. 1
Threshold and Recruitment

Objectives
To

determine the threshold stimulus needed to initiate

a response

To

determine the smallest stimulus at which muscle

contraction is maximum

To

correlate the level of stimulus with the number of

muscle fibers contracting

Methodology
A. Finding the threshold
The thumb was rested
lightly in the pulse
inducer while the other
fingers were placed
under the edge of the
table.

The electrode was

placed at the site for
stimulation at the
ulnar nerve at the
wrist.

Stimulus current
was increased in 1
mA steps.

1 mA stimulus
current was
applied.

Methodology
B. Recruitment

From the threshold

stimulus,
amplitude was
reduced by 1 mA.

Stimulus was
applied.

Increase the
amplitude by 0.5
mA until response
no longer increases

Amplitude was
increased in 0.5
mA steps, clicking
Start each time

Discussion

Discussion

Answers to Study Guide

Questions
1.

Did you get a measurable twitch with a stimulus of 0

mA? What does this tell you about the number of
muscle fibers contracting at this stimulus current?

At 0 mA, no measurable twitch was observed. No

muscle fibers were contracting at this stimulus current.

Answers to Study Guide

Questions
2.

What was the smallest current required to produce a

contraction? What proportion of fibers in the muscle
do you think were contracting to produce this small
response?

The smallest current required to produce a contraction

was 5 mA. At this point, only few muscle fibers were
contracting.

Answers to Study Guide

Questions
3.

What was the smallest current required to produce a

maximum contraction? What do you call this
current? What proportion of fibers in the muscle do
you think were contracting to produce this small
response?

The smallest current required to produce the maximum

contraction, called as the maximal stimulus, was
observed at 17 mA with a twitch force of 0.081. At this
stimulus, all muscle fibers were contracting.

Answers to Study Guide

Questions
3.

Discuss threshold stimulus, threshold response,

maximal stimulus, and maximal response. What do
you call the responses between
threshold and
THRESHOLD
maximal? RESPONSE

THRESHOLD STIMULUS
-minimum stimulus necessary
to elicit a response (action
potential or end plate potential)

MAXIMAL STIMULUS
-highest possible stimulus
wherein a muscle produces
maximal response

-response elicited
when the end plate
potential is reached
by a specific
muscular end plate
unit
MAXIMAL
RESPONSE
-response elicited by
maximal stimulus to
the muscle wherein
all motor units are
recruited

The responses between threshold and maximal

response are called submaximal responses.

Answers to Study Guide

Questions
3.

Why does varying the stimulus strength affect the

twitch force?

As the stimulus current is increased past the muscles

threshold, the amount of force in the entire muscle
increases. The force generated from the muscle
increases each time the current was increased. As the
current increases, and is delivered to the whole muscle,
more fibers are activated, causing total force produced
by the muscles to increase.

Skeletal muscle fibers

exhibit the all or none
principle.
If a stimulus larger than the threshold is applied, the
muscle fiber will give a response; otherwise there is no
response. A stimulus either produces a full-sized action
potential or fails to do so.

Action Potential
(from the nerve to
the motor
endplate)

Release Ach to
cross
postsynaptic cell
(the motor fiber)

Ach-gated
channels Open

AP depolarize the
muscle
membrane
electrically
flowing thru the
center of the
muscle fiber

Initiation of (AP)
at the membrane

Sodium ion influx

to the muscle
fibers

Sarcoplasmic
reticulum release
large quantities of
calcium ions in
the myoplasm

Attraction of
actin-myosin
filaments (Slide)

Contractile
Process

Conclusion
The

threshold stimulus needed to initiate muscle

contraction is 5 mA.

The

current that produced maximum contraction,

known as the maximal stimulus, is 17 mA.

Stimulus

strength is directly proportional to twitch

force, but only if the stimulus is within the threshold
voltage and maximal voltage.