Structural changes in smooth muscle cells during isotonic contraction

Summary Smooth muscle cells of the guinea-pig taenia coli were studied in light and electron microscopy, in condition of mild stretch or of isotonic contraction. During contraction the cells increase in transverse sectional area and their packing density passes from 94,000 · mm^-2 to 18,000 · mm^-2. The percentage increase in transverse sectional area of the taenia is approximately the same as the percentage decrease in length. Measurements of cell transverse sectional area suggest that the individual cells shorten and fatten more than the taenia as a whole. Whereas stretched muscle cells run parallel to each other and show a fairly smooth surface, isotonically contracted cells are twisted and entwine around each other. Their surfaces are covered with myriad processes and folds. Longitudinal, transverse or oblique stripes are seen in light microscopy in the contracted muscle cells and it is suggested that they are related to the characteristics of the cell surface. In electron microscopy a complex pattern of interdigitating finger-like and laminar processes is observed. Caveolae are mainly found on the evaginated parts of the cell surface, dense patches are mainly (but not always) found on the invaginated parts. Desmosome-like attachments between contracted cells are frequent. The collagen fibrils run approximately parallel to the stretched muscle cells; on the other hand, they run obliquely and transversely around the isotonically contracted cells.This work is supported by the Medical Research Council. I thank Miss E.M. Franke and Mr S.J. Sarsfield for excellent technical assistance