Fig. 2

Contractile properties of soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles in placebo and lovastatin-treated mice. Frequency-force relationships for Sol (a) and EDL muscles (b). Maximal rate of force development of twitch contractions (c) and half-relaxation time of tetanic contractions (d) in Sol or EDL muscles following placebo or lovastatin [50 mg/kg/day] treatments for 28 days. The absolute force production of the Sol muscles from the statin-treated mice tended to increase (p < 0.06) when stimulated at 50, 80, 100 and 120 Hz. The treatment significantly decreased the maximal rate of tension generation (dP/dT) for twitch contractions (Pt) by 22.4 % and significantly prolonged the ½ RT for tetanic contractions (P₀) by 48.7 % in fast-twitch EDL muscles from statin-treated mice compared to EDL muscles from the control mice. Data are expressed as means ± SE, n = 8 for each experimental group. The level of significance was set at *p < 0.05