<b>EFFECTS OF MILD TRYPSIN TREATMENT ON THE PASSIVE TENSION GENERATION AND CONNECTIN SPLITTING IN STRETCHED SKINNED FIBERS FROM FROG SKELETAL </b><b>MUSCLE </b><b>MUSCLE </b>

Abstract

When skinned fibers from frog semitendinous muscle were mildly treated with trypsin, passive tension generation was remarkably reduced, and the hydrolysis of a-connectin to ,8-connectin simultaneously occurred. On immunoelectron microscopy, splitting of the connectin filaments at the A-I junction area in a sarcomere was seen. These observations strongly suggest that connectin filaments are responsible for passive tension generation as a parallel elastic component in a sarcomere.