This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kossmann, C. E. Articles by FAWCETT, D. W. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kossmann, C. E. Articles by FAWCETT, D. W.

(Circulation. 1961;24:336.)
© 1961 American Heart Association, Inc.

---

The Sarcoplasmic Reticulum of Skeletal and Cardiac Muscle

Charles E. Kossmann M.D. DON W. FAWCETT M.D.¹

¹ From the Department of Anatomy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.

This paper traces the development of our present concept of the structural organization of the sarcoplasmic reticulum in striated muscle and reviews the physiologic evidence for its participation in intracellular impulse conduction. Comparative observations are presented showing that this system of membrane-limited tubules is particularly well developed in exceptionally fast-acting skeletal muscles. These findings are interpreted as evidence supporting the hypothesis that the reticulum is involved in the coupling of excitation to contraction, but it is considered likely that it also has other important functions in muscle metabolism. The sarcoplasmic reticulum of cardiac muscle is found to be much less extensive and less precisely arranged in relation to the cross-banded pattern of the myofibrils, than it is in skeletal muscle. It is believed, nevertheless, that it may prove to have a significant role in the physiology of the myocardium.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. M. Katz and D. I. Repke Control of Myocardial Contraction: The Sensitivity of Cardiac Actomyosin to Calcium Ion Science, May 27, 1966; 152(3726): 1242 - 1243. [Abstract] [PDF]