The foundation of excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle: communication between the transverse tubules and sarcoplasmic reticulum.

The expression excitation-contraction (EC) coupling in skeletal muscle was coined in 1952 (Sandow A. 25: 176-201, 1952). The term evolved narrowly to include only the processes at the triad that intervene between depolarization of the transverse tubular (T-tubular) membrane and Ca release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR).