Chapter 11 - Musculoskeletal System Flashcards
What are the three types of muscle?
Cardiac, skeletal, and smooth muscle
Skeletal muscle is innervated by the ___________.
Somatic nervous system
What is the function of the skeletal muscle?
Controls voluntary movement
What is the function of smooth muscle?
Control involuntary movement
Characteristics of skeletal muscle
Striated, multinucleated, contains actin and myosin in repeating units called sarcomeres, mature cells are suspended in G0 phase (don’t divide)
What are the two types of fibers in skeletal muscle?
- Red fibers/slow-twitch - high myoglobin and high iron, many mitochondria, use aerobic respiration
- White fibers/fast-twitch - low myoglobin, low iron
Characteristics of smooth muscle
Uninucleated, no striations, myogenic activity, actin and myosin not in organized units; control the gut, viscera, blood vessels
Characteristics of cardiac muscle
1-2 nuclei per cell, striated, myogenic activity, innervated by autonomic NS, contains actin & myosin units in repeating units of sarcomeres, cardiac cells can undergo mitosis
Nerves that innervate the heart are responsible for _______?
Regulating the rhythm of the heart. The parasympathetic (vagus) nerve lowers HR while the sympathetic nerves increase HR.
Cardiac muscle cells are connected via _________. What is the purpose of this?
Intercalated discs, these discs house gap junctions which allow ions to flow directly from one cell to another for a rapid action potential.
What is the basic contractile unit of skeletal muscle?
A sarcomere
What makes up a sarcomere?
Thick myosin filaments and thin actin filaments that are connected to the proteins: troponin and tropomyosin
Troponin and tropomyosin attach to what part of the sarcomere?
To the thin filaments (actin)
Myosin is (always/sometimes) bound to actin unless the actin binding sites are blocked by tropomyosin.
always, myosin has a high affinity for actin such that it will always be bound unless blocked by tropomyosin
Multiple sarcomeres form a _________.
Myofibril
What is the outline of the gross structure of muscle cells starting from sarcomere?
Sarcomere —> myofibril —> muscle fiber —> fascicle —> skeletal muscle
What are the Z lines in a sarcomere?
They are zigzag lines at the end of both sides within each sarcomere unit, which define the boundaries of an individual sarcomere. Think “Z” is the end of the alphabet, just like the end of the sarcomere.
They shorten with contraction.
What is the A band?
It includes the total length of the myosin filaments as well as part of the actin filaments that overlap. Think “A” band as in it contains ALL of the myosin filament.
The distance STAYS the same with contraction.
What is the H zone?
Includes only a portion of myosin thick filaments. Think “H” is a thick letter, so it only contains the thick filament and NONE of the actin filaments.
H zone distance decreases with contraction.
What are the I bands?
They are the portion of the sarcomere which contain only thin actin filaments. Think of “I” as a thin letter which contains only thin filaments.
These also shorten with contraction.
What is the M line?
It is a line that runs down the middle of the sarcomere, that is the middle of the myosin filaments.
The distance between M lines in 2 sarcomeres decreases during contraction.
During contraction what part of the sarcomere stays the same?
A band
How does an action potential travel in a sarcomere?
The sarcolemma, cell membrane of a muscle fiber, is capable of propagating an action potential and distributing that action potential to all the sarcomeres in the myofibril though the T tubules which are perpendicular to the myofibril itself.
True or false:
Without calcium, muscle contraction wouldn’t occur.
True, calcium is necessary to bind to troponins which allows for bound tropomyosins configuration to change. This exposes actin binding sites to which myosin binds to.
Just like action potential, muscle fibers contain an _________.
all of nothing response, meaning they either contract or they don’t
How can you obtain a stronger muscle force?
Your nerve cells will recruit more muscle fibers to contract.
A simple twitch (response of a single muscle fiber) can be divided into 3 phases:
Latent period - AP spreads to muscle and calcium gets released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum
Contraction period - calcium binds to troponin, allowing myosin to bind to actin, muscle contracts
Relaxation period - calcium unbinds stopping contraction from occurring
What is the function of osteoclasts?
They break down bone tissue
Would the hormone calcitonin released by the thyroid support or inhibit the proliferation of osteoclasts?
Calcitonin would inhibit the proliferation of osteoclasts. Calcitonin acts to decrease blood calcium levels, therefore less osteoclasts would mean less bone breakdown, and less calcium released from the bone.
What constitutes a motor unit?
The nerve axon terminal and the myocytes (muscle fibers) it innervates.