EXCITATIONCONTRACTION COUPLING

excitation-contraction coupling: translation

Name given to the chain of processes coupling excitation of a muscle by the arrival of a nervous impulse at the motor end plate to the contraction of the filaments of the sarcomere. The crucial link is the release of calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum, and the analogy is often drawn between this and stimulus-secretion coupling, that also involves calcium release into the cytoplasm.