Chapter 6A Study Guide Flashcards
What are two other ways skeletal muscles are known?
Striated muscles-fibers have obvious stripes
Voluntary muscles- subject to conscious control
Name the three types of muscles
Skeletal, cardiac, and smooth
Starting with a muscle fiber, describe how skeletal muscles are bundled.
The muscle fibers are bundled by the endomysium, several fibers are wrapped by a perimysium to form a bundle of fibers called a fascicle. Then many fascicles are bound together by an epimysium
Describe a smooth muscle
Has no striations
Is involuntary
Found in hollow walls of visceral organs
Propels substances along a pathway
Where are cardiac muscles found?
The heart
Describe cardiac muscle
Forms bulk of the heart walls
Striated
Involuntary
What is the main function of all muscles?
Produce movement
What functions do skeletal muscles perform that other muscles do not?
Maintains posture
Stabilizes joints
Generates heat
What is the cell plasma membrane of a skeletal muscle called?
The sacrolemma
What are Myofibrils?
Long, ribbonlike organelles which nearly fill the cytoplasm
What are I and A bands?
Alternating light (I) and dark (A) bands along the length of the perfectly aligned Myofibrils give the muscle cell as a whole it’s striped appearance
Describe the structure of I and A bands
I bands have a midline interruption, a darker area called the Z disc
A bands have a lighter central area called the H zone. The M line in the center of the H zone contains tiny protein rods that hold adjacent thick filaments together
What are sacromeres?
The smallest contractile unit of muscle; extends from one Z disc to the other
Describe the different myofilaments
The thick filaments, also myosin filaments, are made mostly of bundled molecules of the protein myosin, but they also contain ATPase enzymes, which split ATP to generate the power for muscle contraction. Extend the entire length of the A band. Contain Cross bridges
Thin filaments are composed of the contractile protein called actin, plus some regulatory proteins that play a role in allowing binding of myosin heads to actin. Are anchored to the Z disc.
What does the sacroplasmic reticulum do?
Stores calcium and releases it on demand when the muscle fiber is stimulated to contract
What is a motor unit?
One neuron and all the skeletal muscle cells it stimulates is a motor unit
The long nerve extension is called what?
Axon, or nerve fiber
Where is the neuromuscular junction found?
Where the nerves and the muscles come together
What is a neurotransmitter?
Chemical released by neurons that may, upon binding to receptors of neurons or effector cells, stimulate or inhibit them
What is a neurotransmitter that stimulates skeletal muscle?
Acetylcholine, ACh
Explain the process of a single muscle contraction in a skeletal muscle
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What is an action potential?
Action potential is unstoppable. It travels over the entire surface of the sacrolemma, conducting an electrical impulse from one end of the cell to the other resulting in contraction of the muscle cell.
Explain the sliding filament theory.
The Calcium ions trigger myosin cross bridges to attach to actin, initiating filament sliding where the myofilaments slide past each other
How does a contraction of a muscle as a whole differ from a contraction of a single muscle?
Whole muscles react to stimuli with graded responses, or different degrees of shortening.
What are muscle twitches?
Single, brief, jerky contractions
Explain the 6 different movements of muscles- Circumduction
A combination of flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction; commonly seen in ball-and-socket joints.
Ex: rolling shoulders/swinging arms in circle