Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Different recoveries of the first and second phases of the M-wave after intermittent maximal voluntary contractions

  • Original Article
  • Published:
European Journal of Applied Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

We investigated the recovery of muscle electrical properties after intermittent intense exercise by examining separately the first and second phases of the muscle compound action potential (M-wave).

Methods

M-waves and mechanical twitches were obtained using femoral nerve stimulation throughout the 30-min recovery period following 48 successive intermittent 3-s MVCs. The amplitude, duration, and area of the M-wave first and second phases, and the peak twitch force were measured from the knee extensors.

Results

The amplitudes of both the first and second M-wave phases were increased immediately after exercise (P < 0.05), but, whereas the first phase remained enlarged for 5 min after exercise, the increase of the second phase only lasted for 10 s. After 30 min of recovery, the amplitude, area, and duration of both the first and second phases were decreased compared to control values (10–20%, P < 0.05). A significant temporal association was found between the changes in the amplitude and duration of the M-wave first phase (maximal cross correlations, 0.9–0.93; time lag, 0 s). A significant, negative temporal relation was found between the amplitude of the M-wave first phase and the peak twitch force during recovery (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

The prolonged enlargement of the M-wave first phase during recovery seems primarily related to fatigue-induced changes in membrane properties, whereas the extremely short recovery of the second phase might be related to changes in muscle architectural features. It is concluded that muscle excitability is impaired even after intermittent fatiguing contractions which allow partial clearance of extracellular K+.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

AmpliFIRST :

Amplitude of the first phase of the M-wave

AmpliSECOND :

Amplitude of the second phase of the M-wave

AmpliPP :

Amplitude resulting from the sum of AmpliFIRST and AmpliSECOND

AreaFIRST :

Area of the first phase of the M-wave

AreaSECOND :

Area of the second phase of the M-wave

AreaTOTAL :

Area resulting from the sum of AreaFIRST and AreaSECOND

DurFIRST :

Duration of the first phase of the M-wave

DurSECOND :

Duration of the second phase of the M-wave

DurPP :

Time interval between the first and second peaks of the M-wave

MVC:

Maximal voluntary contraction

M-wave:

Compound muscle action potential

SD:

Standard deviation

SE:

Standard error of the mean

EMG:

Electromyography

VL:

Vastus lateralis

VM:

Vastus medialis

RF:

Rectus femoris

References

  • Arabadzhiev TI, Dimitrov GV, Chakarov VE, Dimitrov AG, Dimitrova NA (2008) Effects of changes in intracellular action potential on potentials recorded by single-fiber, macro, and belly-tendon electrodes. Muscle Nerve 37:700–712

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bellemare F, Garzaniti N (1988) Failure of neuromuscular propagation during human maximal voluntary contraction. J Appl Physiol 64(3):1084–1093

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beretta Piccoli M, Rainoldi A, Heitz C, Wüthrich M, Boccia G, Tomasoni E, Spirolazzi C, Egloff M, Barbero M (2014) Innervation zone locations in 43 superficial muscles: toward a standardization of electrode positioning. Muscle Nerve 49(3):413–421

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bigland-Ritchie B, Kukulka CG, Lippold OC, Woods JJ (1982) The absence of neuromuscular transmission failure in sustained maximal voluntary contractions. J Physiol 330:265–278

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Botter A, Oprandi G, Lanfranco F, Allasia S, Maffiuletti NA, Minetto MA (2011) Atlas of the muscle motor points for the lower limb: implications for electrical stimulation procedures and electrode positioning. Eur J Appl Physiol 111:2461–2471

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bruton JD, Westerblad H, Katz A, Lännergren J (1996) Augmented force output in skeletal muscle fibres of Xenopus following a preceding bout of activity. J Physiol 493:211–217

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Crone C, Johnsen LL, Hultborn H, Orsnes GB (1999) Amplitude of the maximum motor response (Mmax) in human muscles typically decreases during the course of an experiment. Exp Brain Res 124(2):265–270

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cupido CM, Galea V, McComas AJ (1996) Potentiation and depression of the M-wave in human biceps brachii. J Physiol 491(2):541–550

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Dimitrova NA, Dimitrov GV (2002) Amplitude-related characteristics of motor unit and M-wave potentials during fatigue. A simulation study using literature data on intracellular potential changes found in vitro. J Electromyogr Kinesiol 12:339–349

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Duchateau J, Hainaut K (1985) Electrical and mechanical failures during sustained and intermittent contractions in humans. J Appl Physiol 58:942–947

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fowles JR, Green HJ, Tupling R, O’Brien S, Roy BD (2002) Human neuromuscular fatigue is associated with altered Na+–K+-ATPase activity following isometric exercise. J Appl Physiol 92(4):1585–1593

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hanson J, Persson A (1971) Changes in the action potential and contraction of isolated frog muscle after repetitive stimulation. Acta Physiol Scand 81:340–348

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hanson J (1974) Effects of repetitive stimulation on membrane potentials and twitch in human and rat intercostal muscle fibers. Acta Physiol Scand 92:238–248

  • Hara T (1980) Evaluation of recovery from local muscle fatigue by voluntary test contractions. J Hum Ergol 9(1):35–46

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hicks A, Fenton J, Garner S, McComas AJ (1989) M wave potentiation during and after muscle activity. J Appl Physiol 66:2606–2610

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Juel C (1988) Muscle action potential propagation velocity changes during activity. Muscle Nerve 11:714–719

  • Keenan KG, Farina D, Merletti R, Enoka RM (2006) Influence of motor unit properties on the size of the simulated evoked surface EMG potential. Exp Brain Res 169:37–49

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kubo K, Kanehisa H, Kawakami Y, Fukunaga T (2001) Influences of repetitive muscle contractions with different modes on tendon elasticity in vivo. J Appl Physiol 91:277–282

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lännergren J, Westerblad H (1987) Action potential fatigue in single skeletal muscle fibres of Xenopus. Acta Physiol Scand 129:311–318

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lännergren J, Larsson L, Westerblad H (1989) A novel type of delayed tension reduction observed in rat motor units after intense activity. J Physiol 412:267–276

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Lateva ZC, McGill KC (1998) The physiological origin of the slow afterwave in muscle action potentials. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 109(5):462–469

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lateva ZC, McGill KC, Burgar CG (1996) Anatomical and electrophysiological determinants of the human thenar compound muscle action potential. Muscle Nerve 19(11):1457–1468

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lindinger MI (1995) Potassium regulation during exercise and recovery in humans: implications for skeletal and cardiac muscle. J Mol Cell Cardiol 27(4):1011–1022

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lüttgau HC (1965) The effect of metabolic inhibitors on the fatigue of the action potential in single muscle fibres. J Physiol (Lond) 178:45–67

  • Maganaris CN, Baltzopoulos V, Sargeant AJ (2002) Repeated contractions alter the geometry of human skeletal muscle. J Appl Physiol 93:2089–2094

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McFadden LK, McComas AJ (1996) Late depression of muscle excitability in humans after fatiguing stimulation. J Physiol 496(Pt 3):851–855

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Metzger JM, Fitts RH (1986) Fatigue from high- and low frequency muscle stimulation: role of sarcolemma action potentials. Exp Neurol 93:320–333

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Millet GY, Martin V, Martin A, Vergès S (2011) Electrical stimulation for testing neuromuscular function: from sport to pathology. Eur J Appl Physiol 111(10):2489–2500

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Milner-Brown HS, Miller RG (1986) Muscle membrane excitation and impulse propagation velocity are reduced during muscle fatigue. Muscle Nerve 9(4):367–374

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Overgaard K, Nielsen OB, Flatman JA, Clausen T (1999) Relations between excitability and contractility in rat soleus muscle: role of the Na+–K+ pump and Na+/K+ gradients. J Physiol 518(Pt 1):215–225

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Partovi S, Aschwanden M, Jacobi B, Schulte AC, Walker UA, Staub D, Imfeld S, Broz P, Benz D, Zipp L, Jaeger KA, Takes M, Robbin MR, Huegli RW, Bilecen D (2013) Correlation of muscle BOLD MRI with transcutaneous oxygen pressure for assessing microcirculation in patients with systemic sclerosis. J Magn Reson Imaging 38(4):845–851

  • Place N, Yamada T, Bruton JD, Westerblad H (2010) Muscle fatigue: from observations in humans to underlying mechanisms studied in intact single muscle fibres. Eur J Appl Physiol 110(1):1–15

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez-Falces J, Place N (2014) Effects of muscle fibre shortening on the characteristics of surface motor unit potentials. Med Biol Eng Comput 52:95–107

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez-Falces J (2016) The formation of extracellular potentials over the innervation zone: Are these potentials affected by changes in fibre membrane properties? Med Biol Eng Comput 54(12):1845–1858

  • Rodriguez-Falces J, Place N (2017) New insights into the potentiation of the first and second phases of the M-wave after voluntary contractions in the quadriceps muscle. Muscle Nerve 55(1):35–45

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez-Falces J, Duchateau J, Muraoka Y, Baudry S (2015) M-wave potentiation after voluntary contractions of different durations and intensities in the tibialis anterior. J Appl Physiol 118:953–964

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas CK, Woods JJ, Bigland-Ritchie B (1989) Impulse propagation and muscle activation in long maximal voluntary contractions. J Appl Physiol 67:1835–1842

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Hoeven JH, van Weerden TW, Zwarts MJ (1993) Long-lasting supernormal conduction velocity after sustained maximal isometric contraction in human muscle. Muscle Nerve 16:312–320

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • West W, Hicks A, McKelvie R, O’Brien J (1996) The relationship between plasma potassium, muscle membrane excitability and force following quadriceps fatigue. Pflugers Arch 432:43–49

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author contribution

JRF and NP designed experimental study; JRF performed experiments; JRF analyzed data; JRF and NP interpreted results of experiments; JRF drafted manuscript; JRF and NP edited and revised manuscript; JRF and NP approved final version of manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Electronical Engineering, Public University of Navarra, Campus de Arrosadía s/n., 31006, Pamplona, Spain

    Javier Rodriguez-Falces

  2. Institute of Sport Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Nicolas Place

  3. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Nicolas Place

Authors
  1. Javier Rodriguez-Falces
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nicolas Place
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Javier Rodriguez-Falces.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by Olivier Seynnes.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rodriguez-Falces, J., Place, N. Different recoveries of the first and second phases of the M-wave after intermittent maximal voluntary contractions. Eur J Appl Physiol 117, 607–618 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3553-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3553-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation