Contraction of a sarcomere, and thus contraction of the muscle as a whole, is accomplished by a cyclic sequence of interactions between actin (thin filaments) and myosin (thick filaments) in the sarcomere. Understanding this sequence of events is essential to understanding the mechanism of muscle contractio n at the cellular and molecular levels. Begin by considering a relaxed muscle. In this state, the myosin molecules of the thick filaments are not in contact with the actin of the thin filaments, and ADP and Pi are bound to the myosin heads. An action potential on the muscle cell plasma membrane initiates contraction of the sarcomeres from this relaxed state.