The significance of Gerta Vrbová's low-frequency stimulation experiment

Published: 8 January 2021
Abstract Views: 738
PDF: 428
HTML: 11
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

An inspiring scientific cooperation has come to an end, when Gerta Vrbová, an internationally renowned researcher in the field of neuromuscular interactions, passed away on October 2, 2020. Comparative EMG studies had led Gerta to suggest that different contractile properties of fast- and slow-twitch muscle fibers relate to specific firing patterns of their motoneurones. In support of her hypothesis, long term stimulation of fast-twitch muscles with a stimulus pattern resembling that of slow motoneurones, were shown to induce a pronounced fast-to-slow shift in contractile properties. In our cooperation which started in 1970, and also in cooperation with others, Gerta's experiment proved to be an ideal model for the study of neurally controlled changes in phenotype characteristics at various levels of molecular and cellular organization, their time courses and ranges. It has become most important in basic research on the adaptive potential or plasticity of muscle.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Buller AJ, Eccles JC, Eccles RM. Interactions between motoneurones and muscles in respect of the characteristic speeds of their responses J Physiol. 1960 Feb;150(2):417-39. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1960.sp006395
Vrbová G. The effect of motoneurone activity on the speed of of contraction of striated muscle. J Physiol. 1963 Dec;169(3):513-26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1963.sp007276
Salmons S, Vrbová G. The influence of activity on some contractile characteristics of mammalian fast and slow muscles. J Physiol. 1969 May;201(3):535- 49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.1969.sp008771
Pette D. Vrbová G. Adaptations of mammalian muscle fibers to chronic electrical stimulation. Rev Physiol Biochem Pharmacol. 1992;120:115-202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0036123
Pette D. Vrbová G. Invited review: What does chronic electrical stimulation teach us about muscle plasticity? Muscle Nerve. 1999 Jun;22(6):666-77. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4598(199906)22:6<666::AID-MUS3>3.0.CO;2-Z
Pette D. Vrbová G. The Contribution of Neuromuscular Stimulation in Elucidating Muscle Plasticity Revisited. Eur J Transl Myol. 2017 Feb 24;27(1):6368. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4081/ejtm.2017.6368
Dirk Pette, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz

Dr. Dirk Pette, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany

E-mail: dirk.pette@gmail.com

How to Cite

Pette, D. (2021). The significance of Gerta Vrbová’s low-frequency stimulation experiment. European Journal of Translational Myology, 31(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/ejtm.2021.9585