Response in the Living and Non-Living

Excerpt

CHAPTER I
THE MECHANICAL RESPONSE OF LIVING SUBSTANCES

• Mechanical response
• —Different kinds of stimuli
• —Myograph
• —Characteristics of response-curve: period, amplitude, form
• —Modification of response-curves.

One of the most striking effects of external disturbance on certain types of living substance is a visible change of form. Thus, a piece of muscle when pinched contracts. The external disturbance which produced this change is called the stimulus. The body which is thus capable of responding is said to be irritable or excitable. A stimulus thus produces a state of excitability which may sometimes be expressed by change of form.

Mechanical response to different kinds of stimuli.—This reaction under stimulus is seen even in the lowest organisms; in some of the amœboid rhizopods, for instance. These lumpy protoplasmic bodies, usually elongated while creeping, if mechanically jarred, contract into a spherical form. If, instead of mechanical disturbance, we apply salt solution, they again contract, in the same way as before. Similar effects are produced by sudden illumination, or by rise of temperature, or by electric shock. A living substance may thus be put into an excitatory state by either mechanical, chemical, thermal, electrical, or light stimulus. Not only does the point stimulated show the effect of stimulus, but that effect may sometimes be conducted even to a considerable distance. This power of conducting stimulus, though common to all living substances, is present in very different degrees. While in some forms of animal tissue irritation spreads, at a very slow rate, only to points in close neighbourhood, in other forms, as for example in nerves, conduction is very rapid and reaches far.

The visible mode of response by change of form may perhaps be best studied in a piece of muscle. When this is pinched, or an electrical shock is sent through it, it becomes shorter and broader. A responsive twitch is thus produced. The excitatory state then disappears, and the muscle is seen to relax into its normal form.

Mechanical lever recorder.—In the case of contraction of muscle, the effect is very quick, the twitch takes place in too short a time for detailed observation by ordinary means. A myographic apparatus is therefore used, by means of which the changes in the muscle are self-recorded. Thus we obtain a history of its change and recovery from the change. The muscle is connected to one end of a writing lever. When the muscle contracts, the tracing point is pulled up in one direction, say to the right. The extent of this pull depends on the amount of contraction. A band of paper or a revolving drum-surface moves at a uniform speed at right angles to the direction of motion of the writing lever. When the muscle recovers from the stimulus, it relaxes into its original form, and the writing point traces the recovery as it moves now to the left, regaining its first position. A curve is thus described, the rising portion of which is due to contraction, and the falling portion to relaxation or recovery. The ordinate of the curve represents the intensity of response, and the abscissa the time ().

Fig. 1.—Mechanical Lever Recorder

The muscle M with the attached bone is securely held at one end, the other end being connected with the writing lever. Under the action of stimulus the contracting muscle pulls the lever and moves the tracing point to the right over the travelling recording surface P. When the muscle recovers from contraction, the tracing point returns to its original position. See on P the record of muscle curve.

Characteristics of the response-curve: (1) Period, (2) Amplitude, (3) Form.—Just as a wave of sound is characterised by its (1) period, (2) amplitude, and (3) form, so may these response-curves be distinguished from each other. As regards the period, there is an enormous variation, corresponding to the functional activity of the muscle. For instance, in tortoise it may be as high as a second, whereas in the wing-muscles of many insects it is as small as 1/300 part of a second....