Exam 2 Flashcards
what is the final common pathway
- last pathway to muscle (neurons that actual connect to muscle)
what is the “common” part of the final common pathway
convergence - large number of neurons converges down onto a smaller subset of neurons to influence their behavior
- fat pathway: alpha motor neurons
- skinny pathway: gamma motor neurons
what is a motor unit
alpha motor neuron and all the muscles fibers it innervates
- axon can branch hundreds of times to innervate a lot
alpha motor nuclei
in ventral horn - but motor cell bodies for single muscle can be distributed 1-4 spinal segments
clinical significance: spinal cord injury you could still have some cells for muscle connected to brain above injury (could present as weakness or dysfunction)
frequency of motor unit twitches results in what?
produce tetanic force output of motor unit
force output of individual motor units which are actively firing causes what
larger force transmitted through connective tissue to tendon and bone
what are the events to activate a motor unit
- depolarization of alpha motor neuron
- propagation of A.P distally along axon
- once at axon terminals results in release of acetylcholine from pre-synaptic vesicles
- acetylcholine binds to motor end plate causes depolarization of sarcolemma
- A.P travels right and left than down t-tubules to SR
- Ca2+ is released from SR
- Ca2+ binds to actin to expose actin-mysoin sites
- cross bridge cycle (force production
- Ca2+ pumped back into SR
how quick are sarcolemmal action potentials compared to neural action potentials?
significantly slower (30-50 meters per second)
neural (80-90 meters per second)
what is the concentration difference of Ca2+ in the SR compared to the cytosol?
100 x more in the SR
what is the importance of the protein complex on the SR
- has voltage sensing membrane
- Ca2+ channel
when AP travels down T-Tubules it is sensed (has threshold) which changes the confirmation which triggers ion channel change to allow Ca2+ to flood out into cytosol
how long do Ca2+ ion channels stay open
very short amount of time (1-2 m/s)
what is the strong binding site for myosin ?
myosin has a strong affinity for the actin (attachement)
how do you get to weak binding for myosin
ATP binds to myosin head which creates lower affinity and the myosin heads pops off
what powers the power stroke
splitting of ATP
molecular motors (aka myosin)
proteins that change confirmations in response to certain stimulus to do something physical
- how things are transported (vesicle on back on molecular motor)
what is the enzyme used during cross-bridge
ATPase - splits the ATP molecule into ADP + Pi
how many AP take to create a muscle twitch
one AP = one muscle twitch
how does muscle work in real life (AP firing)
we fire a train of AP that do not give enough time to pump all Ca+ back into SR so we have a pool still in the cytosol which increases cross bridge ability
- we sustain a tetanic force from repetitive stimulation
why do we have non-contractile structure proteins in muscle
- physical framework (cytoskeleton proteins) connected all over. Actin and Myosin sit within this structure
- connect force producing structure to the outside of the cell to provide route for force transmission.
what is the function of Titin protein (longest molecule you have)
attach to myosin and Z line. has a rubber band like structure that are important to biomechanics
what is the function of the costamere (focal adhesion) every couple of microns
anchoring point for cytoskeleton stands (at every z-line) to sarcolemma
integrin (trans-membrane protein)
outside cell attached to other molecules attached to basal lamina (extracellular matrix)
inside cell attached to proteins that create Costamere
Dystrophin function
“muscular dystrophy” most common is duchenne which is associated with screwed up dystrophin (important connection between inside and outside of cell) results in not being able to transmit force from muscle to bone
what is the important of focal contact proteins
connect proteins in extracellular matrix to allow force to be transmitted out of the muscle -> tendon -> bone
what is another word for basal lamina
endomysium (connective tissue) surrounding muscle fiber
what is the innervation ratio
muscle fiber / number of alpha motor neurons
what is the importance of the innervation ratio
correlates with function of the muscle. Smaller innervation ratio is associated with fine/ precise movement
what is the structure that surrounds the whole muscle
epimysium (fascial sheath)
what structure separates skeletal muscle tissue into bundles of cells
perimysium
what surrounds individual muscle fibers
endomysium
what is the function of T-tubules?
allows sarcolemma A.P to travel deep to stimulate release of Ca2+ roughly at the same time throughout muscle fiber
what are the three type of motor unit fiber types
- slow
- fast-fatigue resistant
- fast fatigable
what are some characteristics of slow-twitch fibers
force produced usually rises and falls slower in response to AP
- can produce small amounts of tension for a prolonged period
what are some characteristics of fast-twitch fibers
rapid force produces in short amount of time
- the fast fatigable produce more force in a shorter amount of time
define recruitment threshold
force required to initiate discharge of AP from motor unit repetitively during voluntary contraction
define orderly recruitment
fixed order that motor units are recruited
What determines force of a motor unit
Number of muscle fibers it innervated
Properties of motor units in one muscle
- Innervation number
- Twitch force (based on innervation ratio)
- Speed of twitch (rate of force development)
4.fatiguable - Recruitment threshold
- soma size of motor neuron
- number of ion channels
resistance - muscle fiber type that predominates motor unit
how much does muscle innervation number varies within a population (pool) of motor units
exponentially
motor units with long contraction times are what type and how much force do they exert?
slow twitch and exert a low tetanic force
motor units with fast contraction times exert what type of force
(fast fatigue resistant and fast fatiguable) exert a range from low to hight
difference in tetanic forces amoung motor units is mainly due to what?
variation in innervation ratio
fast twitch motor units exert large force, but they also do what?
exhibit very large range of maximal tetanic forces