Chapter 9 Muscles and Muscle Tissues Flashcards
Muscle Overview
There are three types of muscle tissue which are skeletal, cardiac and smooth
These times differ in structure, location, function and means of activation
Muscles Similarities
Skeletal and smooth muscles cells are elongated and are called muscle fibers
Muscle contraction depends on two kinds of myofilaments-actin and myosin
Muscle Terminology is similar:
-Sacrolemma; muscle plasma membrane
-Sarcoplasm;cytoplasm of a muscle cell
-Prefixes; myo, mys, and sarco all refer to muscle.
Skeletal Muscle Tissue
Packaged in skeletal muscles that attach to and cover the bony skeleton
Has obvious stripes called striation.
Is controlled voluntarily (i.e.,by conscious control)
Contracts rapidly but tires easily
Is responsible for overall body motility
Is extremely adaptable and can exert forces ranging from a fraction of an ounce to over 70 pounds
Cardiac Muscle Tissue
Occurs only in the heart
Is striated like skeletal muscle but is not voluntary (involuntary)
Contracts at a fairly steady rate set by the heart’s pacemaker
Neural controls allow the heart to respond to changes in bodily needs
Smooth Muscle Tissue
Found in the walls of hollow visceral organs, such as the stomach, urinary bladder and respiratory passages
Forces food and other substances through internal body channels
It is not striated and is involuntary
Functional Characteristics of Muscle Tissue
Excitability, or irritability- the ability to receive and respond to stimuli
Contractility- the ability to shorten forcibly
Extensibility- the ability to be stretched or extended
Elasticity- the ability to recoil and resume the original resting length
Muscle Function
Skeletal muscles are responsible for all locomotion
Cardiac muscle is responsible for coursing the blood through the body
Smooth muscle helps maintain blood pressure, and squeezes or propels substances (i.e., food, feces) through organs
Muscles also maintain posture, stabilize joints and generate heat
Skeletal Muscle
The three connective tissue sheaths are:
1. Endomysium-fine sheath of connective tissue composed of reticular fibers surrounding each muscle fiber
2. Perimysium- fibrous connective tissue that surrounds groups of muscle fibers called fascicles
3. Epimysium- an overcoat of dense regular connective tissue that surrounds the entire muscle
Skeletal Muscle: Nerve and Blood Supply
Each muscle is served by one nerve, an artery, and one or more veins
Each skeletal muscle fiber is supplied with a nerve ending that controls contraction
Contracting fibers require continuous delivery of oxygen and nutrients via arteries
Wastes must be removed via veins
Skeletal Muscle: Attachments
Most skeletal muscles span joints and are attached to bone in at least two places.
When muscles contract the insertion on the moveable bone moves towards the origin on the immoveable bone.
Muscles attach:
-Directly; epimysium of the muscle is fused to the periosteum of a bone
-Indirectly; connective tissue wrappings extend beyond the muscle as a tendon or aponeurosis
Microscopic Anatomy of a Skeletal Muscle Fiber
Each fiber is a long, cylindrical cell with multiple nuclei just beneath the sarcolemma
Fibers are 10 to 100 m in diameter, and up to hundreds of centimeters long
Sarcoplasm has numerous glycosomes and a unique oxygen -binding protein called myoglobin
Fibers contain the usual organelles, myofibrils, sarcoplasmic reticulum, and T tubules
Myofibrils
Dark-A
Light-I
Myofibrils are densely packed, rod-like contractile elements
They make up most of the muscle volume
The arrangement of myofibrils within a fiber is such that a perfectly aligned repeating series of dark A bands and light I bands is evident
Sarcomeres
The smallest contractile unit of a muscle
The region of a myofibril between two successive Z discs
Composed of myofilaments made up of contractile proteins
-Myofilaments are two types; thick and thin
Myofilaments: Banding Pattern
Thick filaments- Extend the entire length of an A band
Thin filaments- Extend across the I band and partway into the A band
Z-disc-coin-shaped sheet of proteins (connects) that anchors the thin filaments and connects myofibrils to one another
Thin filaments do not overlap thick filaments in the lighter H zone
M lines appear darker due to the presence of the protein desmin
Ultrastructure of Myofilaments: Thick Filaments
Thick filaments are composed of the protein myosin
Each myosin molecule has a rod-like tail and two globular heads
-Tails; two interwoven, heavy polypeptide chains
-Heads; two smaller, light polypeptide chains called cross bridge
Ultrastructure of Myofilaments: Thin Filaments
Thin filaments are chiefly composed of the protein actin
Each actin molecule is a helical polymer of globular subunits called G actin
The subunits contain the active sites to which myosin heads attach during contraction
Tropomyosin and troponin are regulatory subunits bound to actin
Arrangement of the Filaments in a Sarcomere
Longitudinal section within one sarcomere
Sarcoplasmic Reticulum (SR)
SR is an elaborate, smooth endoplasmic reticulum that mostly runs longitudinally and surrounds each myofibril
Paired terminal cisternae form perpendicular cross channels
Functions in the regulation of intracellular calcium levels
Elongated tubes called T tubules penetrate into the cell’s interior at each A band-I band junction
T tubules associate with the paired terminal cisternae to form triads
T Tubules
T tubules are continuous with the sarcolemma
They conduct impulses to the deepest regions of the muscle
These impulses signal for the release of Ca2+ from adjacent terminal cisternae
Triad Relationships
T tubules and SR provide tightly linked signals for muscle contraction
A double zipper of integral membrane proteins protrudes into the intermembrane space
T tubules proteins act as voltage sensors
SR foot proteins are receptors that regulate Ca2+ release from the SR cisternae
Sliding Filament Model of Contraction
Thin filaments slide past the thick ones so that the actin and myosin filaments overlap to a greater degree
In the relaxed state, thin and thick filaments overlap only slightly
Upon stimulation, myosin heads bind to actin and sliding begins
Sliding Filament Model of Contraction
Each myosin head binds and detaches several times during contraction, acting like a ratchet to generate tension and propel the thin filaments to the center of the sarcomere
As this event occurs throughout the sarcomeres, the muscle shortens
Skeletal Muscle Contractions
In order to contract, a skeletal muscle must:
-Be stimulated by a nerve ending
-Propagate an electrical current, or action potential, along its sarcolemma
-Have a rise in intracellular Ca2+ levels, the final trigger for contraction
Linking the electrical signal to the contraction is excitation-contraction coupling
Nerve Stimulus of Skeletal Muscles
Skeletal muscles are stimulated by motor neurons of the somatic nervous system
Axons of these neurons travel in nerves to muscle cells
Axons of motor neurons branch profusely as they enter muscles
Each axonal branch forms a neuromuscular junction with a single muscle fiber
Neuromuscular Junction
The neuromuscular junction is formed from:
-Axonal endings, which have small membranous sacs (synaptic vesicles) that contain the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh)
-The motor end plate of a muscle, which is a specific part of the sarcolemma that contains ACh receptors and helps form the neuromuscular junctions
Through exceedingly close, axonal ends and muscle fibers are always separated by a space called the synaptic cleft