What is happening at the cellular level during a muscle cramp?

Muscle cramps are caused when the muscle takes longer than normal to relax after a contraction. During contraction, the myosin heads attach on their binding sites on the actin filament and pulls on the filament hence shortening the sarcomeres. For the myosin head to release its binding site on the actin filament, ATP attaches to an active site on the myosin and is hydrolyzed to ADP and Pi. This causes relaxation after a contraction cycle.  Cramps, therefore, may be due to depletion of ATP molecule in the muscles cells.

Another reason for cramps may be a high amount of calcium in the muscles that bind to troponin on the actin filaments. This exposes the myosin binding sites longer hence promotes the formation of cross-bridge even when the contraction of the muscle is not intended anymore.

advantage of using stem cells in medical research:

1.       it provides medical benefits in the fields of therapeutic cloning and regenerative medicine.

2. it provides great potential for discovering treatments and cures to a variety of diseases including parkinson disease, spinal cord injuries, diabetes, alzheimer’s disease and many more.

3. limbs and organ could be grown in lab from stem cells and then used in transplant or treat illness.