BMSC 207 Muscles 1 Flashcards
Primary Function of ALL muscles
Generate Force
Body Movement
Maintenance of Posture
Respiration
Production of Body Heat
Communication
Constriction of Organs and Vessels
Heartbeat
Skeletal Muscles
Primarily Voluntary by Somatic motor neurons
Striated & Multinucleated
Cardiac Muscle
Primarily Involuntary: Spontaneous electrical activity
Can be altered by autonomic NS, hormones
Striated & Uninucleated
Smooth Muscle
Primarily Involuntary: Autonomic control, Spontaneous, Hormones, Paracrines or autocrines
Nonstriated & uninucleate
Smooth Muscles Provide mechanical control of:
Digestive tract
Urinary tract
Reproductive tract
Blood vessels
Airways
Skeletal Muscle Function
Usually Attached to Bones by tendons
Origin: Closest to trunk or to more stationary bone
Anatagonisic muscle group: Flexor-extensor pair
Flexor: brings bones together
Extensor: Moves bones away.
Differentiate different levels of organization of skeletal muscle
Skeletal muscle -> Muscle Fascicles -> Muscle Fibers -> Myofibrils -> Contractile Filaments (Myosin and Actin)
Myofilaments (Thin filaments)
- F-Actin: Back bone of thin filaments, double stranded alpha helical polymer of g-actin molecules.
Contains: binding site for think filaments (Myosin) - Tropomyosin: two identical alpha helices that coil around each other and sit in the two grooves formed by actin strands, regulates binding of myosin to actin.
Troponin complex
[1] troponin T (TnT): binds to a single molecule of tropomyosin
[2] troponin C (TnC): Ca2+ binding site
[3] troponin I (TnI): under resting conditions is bound to actin inhibiting contraction
Situated ~ every 7 actin molecules
Thick Filaments
Consists of a bundle of Myosin molecules
Myosin head contains a region for binding actin as well as a site for binding and hydrolyzing ATP (ATPase)
Regulatory light chain regulates ATPase activity of myosin
Essential light chain stabilizes myosin head
Titin
A very large protein extending from M line to Z line, appears to be involved in stabilization of Thick filaments and the elastic recoil behavior of muscle.
Nebulin
Large protein that interacts with the thin filaments, believed to regulate the length of thin filaments and contribute to the structural integrity of myofibrils
Sarcomere
Z-disk - Zigzag protein structure that is the attachment site for the thin filaments
I Bands - Lightest band of sarcomere, region occupied only by thin filaments.
A Bands - Darkest band of sarcomere, encompasses entire length of the thick filament, including very dark area where thin and thick filaments overlap
H Zone - Central region of A band, consists only of Thick Filaments.
M Line - Proteins form the attachment site for the thick filaments, equivalent to Z disk for thin filaments
The Sliding FIlament Theory
The sarcomere shortens during contraction. As contraction takes place, Actin and Myosin do not change length but slide past another.
Muscle Tension
The force generated by a contracting skeletal muscle
Brain regions involved in voluntary movement
Primary motor cortex:
Basal ganglia
Premotor cortex (motor association)
Thalamus
Cerebellum
Midbrain
Initiation of skeletal muscle contraction
Neuromuscular junction: Point of synaptic contact between somatic motor neuron and Individual muscle fibre.
Excitation-Contraction coupling: an action potential initiated in the skeletal muscle fibre results in an increase in Intracellular (sarcoplasmic) Ca2+
Corticospinal Tract
Descending tract (ventral and interior lateral white matter)
Controls voluntary motor functions (moving limbs)
Upper motor neuron
Brain to brainstem or spinal cord
Alpha (lower) motor neuron
Spinal cord to muscle