Polyvinylphosphate contractile systems

Abstract

Riseman and Kirkwood1 recently suggested that the relaxation of muscle may be attributed to its stretching by the electrostatic repulsion of the ionized groups carried by the phosphorylated myosin molecules. During the contraction, the phosphate groups are split off, and the macromolecules coil up by Brownian movement. © 1950 Nature Publishing Group.