Precontractile optical response during excitation-contraction in human muscle revealed by non-invasive high-speed spatiotemporal NIR measurement

During muscle contraction the excitation-contraction process mediates the neural input and mechanical output. Proper muscle function and body locomotion depends on the status of the elements in the same process. However, non-invasive and in-vivo methods to study this are not available. Here we show the existence of an optical response occurring during the excitation-contraction process in human biceps brachii muscle. We developed a non-invasive instrument from a photodiode array and light emitting diodes to detect spatially propagating (~5 m/s) and precontractile (~6 ms onset) optical signals closely related to the action potential during electrostimulation. Although this phenomenon was observed 60 years ago on isolated frog muscle cells in the lab, it has not been shown in-vivo before now. We anticipate our results to be a starting point for a new category in-vivo studies, characterising alterations in the excitation-contraction process in patients with neuromuscular disease and to monitor effects of therapy.