Molecular and Physiological Mechanisms of Muscle Contraction

The Huxley model from the mid-twentieth century is a long-standing theory of the molecular mechanism by which muscles contract; it has become dogma. This model is also sometimes referred to as the Sliding Filament model. This book summarizes and evaluates current research of the Huxley model and proposes a hybrid model of muscle contraction. This new model will not replace the standard Huxley model of muscle contraction, but will modify it to reflect more recent experimental and laboratory findings.

Jean-Emile Morel earned his PhD in physical chemistry and a second PhD in biophysics at the Ecole Centrale Paris. He was a researcher at the Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique at Saclay, France, where he focused on the complex problem of muscle contraction. He remained at Saclay from 1980 to 2004, becoming professor of bioengineering, biophysics, and cell physiology at the Ecole Centrale Paris and Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, as well as joint director of the DEA course and of the Molecular Biophysics Doctoral School of Universite Pierre et Marie Curie. He also founded the Laboratory of Biology at the Ecole Centrale Paris in 1993. Since his retirement in 2004, he has devoted much of his time to reviewing the existing data on muscle contraction and trying to resolve the conundrums of the field.