Lateral Force Transmission Across Costameres in Skeletal Muscle

Abstract

BLOCH, R. J., and H. GONZALEZ-SERRATOS. Lateral force transmission across costameres in skeletal muscle. Exerc. Sport Sci. Rev., Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 73–78, 2003. In skeletal muscle, contractile force can be transmitted laterally between the z-disks and M-lines of neighboring myofibrils, across the sarcolemma, and through the extracellular matrix to the tendon. Here we examine the data that support this model and the sarcolemmal properties and structures, termed “costameres,” that are consistent with it.