Chapter 10 - Muscle Tissue Flashcards
Acetylcholine (ACh)
Neurotransmitter that binds at a motor end-plate to trigger depolarization
Actin
Protein that makes up most of the thin myofilaments in a sarcomere muscle fiber
Action potential
Change in voltage of a cell membrane in response to a stimulus that results in transmission of an electrical signal; unique to neurons and muscle fibers
Aerobic respiration
Production of ATP in the presence of oxygen
Angiogenesis
Formation of blood capillary networks
Aponeurosis
Broad, tendon-like sheet of connective tissue that attaches a skeletal muscle to another skeletal muscle or to a bone
ATPase
Enzyme that hydrolyzes ATP to ADP
Atrophy
Loss of structural proteins from muscle fibers
Autorhythmicity
Heart’s ability to control its own contractions
Calmodulin
Regulatory protein that facilitates contraction in smooth muscles
Cardiac muscle
Striated muscle found in the heart; joined to one another at intercalated discs and under the regulation of pacemaker cells, which contract as one unit to pump blood through the circulatory system. Cardiac muscle is under involuntary control
Concentric contraction
Muscle contraction that shortens the muscle to a move a load
Contractility
Ability to shorten (contract) forcibly
Contraction phase
Twitch contraction phase when tension increases
Creatine Phosphate
Phosphagen used to store energy from ATP and transfer to muscle
Dense body
Sarcoplasmic structure that attaches to the sarcolemma and shortens the muscle as thin filaments slide past thick filaments
Depolarize
To reduce the voltage difference between the inside and outside of a cell’s plasma membrane (the sarcolemma for a muscle fiber), making the inside less negative than at rest
Desmosome
Cell structure that anchors the ends of the cardiac muscle fibers to allow contraction to occur
Eccentric contraction
Muscle contraction that lengthens the muscle as the tension is diminished
Elasticity
Ability to stretch and rebound
Endomysium
Loose, and well-hydrated connective tissue covering each muscle fiber in a skeletal muscle
Epimysium
Outer layer of connective tissue around a skeletal muscle
Excitability
Ability to undergo neural stimulation
Excitation-contraction coupling
Sequence of events from motor neuron signaling to a skeletal muscle fiber to contraction of the fiber’s sarcomeres
Extensibility
Ability to lengthen (extend)
Fascile
Bundle of muscle fibers within a skeletal muscle
Fast glycolytic (FG)
Muscle fiber that primarily uses anaerobic glycolysis
Fast oxidative (FO)
Intermediate muscle fiber that is between slow oxidative and fast glycolytic fibers
Fibrosis
Replacement of muscle fibers by scar tissue
Glycolysis
Anaerobic breakdown of glucose to ATP
Graded muscle response
Modification of contraction strength
Hyperplasia
Process in which one cell splits to produce new cells
Hypertonia
Abnormally high muscle tone
Hypertrophy
Addition of structural proteins to muscle fibers
Hypotonia
Abnormally low muscle tone caused by the absence of low-level contractions
Intercalated disc
Part of the sarcolemma that connects cardiac tissue, and contains gap junctions and desmosomes
Isometric contraction
Muscle contraction that occurs with no change in muscle length
Isotonic contraction
Muscle contraction that involves changes in muscle length
Lactic acid
Product of anaerobic glycolysis
Latch-bridges
Subset of a cross-bridge in which actin and myosin remain locked together
Latent period
The time when a twitch does not produce contraction
Motor end-plate
Sarcolemma of muscle fiber at the neuromuscular junction, with receptors for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine
Motor unit
Motor neuron and the group of muscle fibers it innervates
Muscle tension
Force generated by the contraction of the muscle; tension generated during isotonic contractions and isometric contractions
Muscle tone
Low levels of muscle contraction that occur when a muscle is not producing movement