The Sliding Filament Theory
In 1954, scientists published two groundbreaking papers describing the molecular basis of muscle contraction. These papers described the position of myosin and actin filaments at various stages of contraction in muscle fibers and proposed how this interaction produced contractile force. Using high-resolution microscopy, A. F. Huxley and R. Niedergerke (1954) and H. E. Huxley and J. Hanson (1954)
observed
changes in the sarcomeres as muscle tissue shortened. They observed that one zone of the repeated sarcomere arrangement, the "A band," remained relatively constant in length during contraction (Figure 2A). The A band contains thick filaments of myosin, which suggested that the myosin filaments remained central and constant in length while other regions of the sarcomere shortened. The investigators noted that the "I band," rich in thinner filaments made of actin, changed its length along with the sarcomere. These observations led them to propose the sliding filament theory, which states that the sliding of actin past myosin generates muscle tension. Because actin is tethered to structures located at the lateral ends of each sarcomere called z discs, any shortening of the actin filament length would result in a shortening of the sarcomere and thus the muscle. This theory has remained impressively intact
