Why is the gastrocnemius muscle of a frog didn't continue to contract when placed on a Ringer's solution?

Answer 1

Ringer's solution is isotonic (ie. same ion concentration) to tissue and is used to keep the muscle moist (don't want it to dry out since ions can't move in/out of the muscle cells unless they are aqueous).

The muscle, if properly stimulated, should still be able to contract without any problem. Are you sure there wasn't any other variable that was changed in your experiment?

Check out the experiment at http://www.mrs.umn.edu/~goochv/AnimalPhys/labmuscle/muscle.html

Answer 2

The Ringer's solution is actually a muscle relaxant chemicals.No wonder the frog's muscles ain't twitching.