Evidence for Superthin Filaments

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Abstract
We have examined a variety of invertebrate and vertebrate muscles in the electron microscope and have seen evidence of a third, very thin (25 Ä) filament in all of them. This filament has been seen in H zones, A bands, and I bands, as well as bridging the gap between actin and myosin filaments in greatly stretched muscle. It, thus, seems likely that, if a third filament exists, it is elastic and extends throughout the sarcomere from Z disc to Z disc, unlike the hypothetical actin-actin(s) filament of Hanson and Huxley (1955), or the actinmyosin gap filaments of Sjostrand (1962) and Carlsen, et al. (1965). These filaments therefore provide an answer to some of the present paradoxes of muscle ultrastructure.

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