Some results of experimental study of structural changes in contracting muscle fibres in response to various mechanical, chemical and thermal perturbations are described. The experiments were performed on beamline ID02 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (Grenoble, France). We simultaneously recorded a 2D x-ray diffraction pattern with the time resolution of up to 1 ms and macroscopic mechanical characteristics, tension and strain, upon various step perturbations. To analyze and quantitatively interpret the experimental data, we used a direct modeling approach based on available atomic structures of contractile proteins and a parameterization method named the «principle of minimum of elastic distortion energy».
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