Midterm #2 Flashcards
How many skeletal muscles are there in the human body?
More than 600
What percentage of body weight do skeletal muscles contribute?
40-60% of total body weight
What are the main functions/purposes of skeletal muscle?
1) Force Generation
2) postural support
3) heat production during cold stress
Muscles that decrease joint angles are called?
Flexors
Muscles that increase joint angles are called?
Extensors
What separates and holds skeletal muscle in place?
Fascia
What are the 3 layers of connective tissue(fascia) in skeletal muscle? Where is each one located?
1) Epimysium - surrounds the entire muscle
2) Perimysium - surrounds individual muscle bundles
3) Endomysium - Surrounds each muscle fibre
What is one distinct difference between skeletal muscle from other types?
They are multinucleated
What is the cell membrane that surrounds the muscle fibre?
Sarcolemma
What is the purpose of the sarcolemma?
usual membrane functions + assists in the transmission of neural impulses
What are satellite cells and what do they do?
undifferentiated cells that are predicted to play a key role in muscle growth and repair
What is the myonuclear domain? Why is this important for muscle growth?
This is the ratio of cell volume per nucleus. This is important because a nucleus can only sustain the necessary gene expression(production of proteins) for a limited area. Therefore as muscle grows, more nuclei are made. And vice versa
What are myofibrils?
Myofibrils contain the contractile proteins.
What makes up myofibrils?
Actin and myosin
What makes up thick filaments?
Myosin
What makes up thin filaments?
Primarily actin plus troponin and tropomyosin.
Myofibrils can be further divided into…
Sarcomeres
What are sarcomeres?
The smallest functional unit of a muscle.
What separates sarcomeres?
The Z line or Z disk
What is the A band?
There the thick filaments(myosin) are located
What is the I band? What happens during muscle contraction?
Where the light filaments(actin) are and not overlapping myosin. Essentially the space between the thick filaments.
The I band decreases in size due to the increasing overlap of myosin and actin.
What is the H zone? What happens during contraction?
This is the zone where there is only myosin, no actin. This region will decrease in size as myosin pulls actin towards the m-line creating more overlap of the two filaments.
What is the sarcoplasmic reticulum?
a network of membranous channels within the sarcoplasm. The SR is the storage site for Ca.
Why is the Ca in the sarcoplasmic reticulum important?
Becasue the Ca release is required for muscle contraction.
What is the transverse tubule?
A membranous channel that extends from the sarcolemma completely through the muscle fibre using channels called terminal cisternae. The T-tubules are responsible for transmitting nerve impulses throughout the whole muscle fibre to permit the release of Ca from the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
What is the anatomical relationship between the sarcoplasmic reticulum and the transverse tubules?
These two systems bring together the dihydropyridine receptor and the ryanadine receptor.
What is the dihydropyridine receptor?
resides in the transverse tubules and allows the ryanadine receptor to release Ca. The dihydropyridine receptor does not directly release Ca.
What is the ryanadine receptor?
Resides in the terminal cisternae and after being stimulated by the dihydropyridine receptor, the ryanadine Ca channel will open causing Ca to be released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum triggering muscle contraction.
What type of neurons innervate skeletal muscle?
Motor neurons
What is a motor unit?
The nerve and all muscle fibres it innervates
What is the site where a motor neuron and a muscle cell meet called?
Neuromuscular junction.
At the site of a neuromuscular junction, there is a pocket within the sarcolemma. What is this pocket called?
The synaptic cleft
T or F - The motor neuron makes direct contact with the muscle cell.
False, The motor neuron and muscle cell are separated by the synaptic cleft.
Since there is no contact, how does the motor neuron stimulate the muscle cells?
By sending the neurotransmitter, ACh, which diffuses across the synaptic cleft and binds with the receptors on the motor end plate.
What happens when ACh binds to the motor end plate?
Causes an increase in permeability to sodium resulting in a depolarization called the end-plate potential.
T or F - End-plate potentials are always large enough to exceed the threshold.
True, EPPs are always large enough to start the contractile process.
How does training positively adapt the neuromuscular junction?
Training increases the NMJ size which increases the number of synaptic vesicles and ACh receptors. These changes allow for better stimulation of the muscle from the motor neuron.
What breaks down ATP that is used for muscle contraction? Where is this structure location?
Myosin ATPase; located on the myosin head.
How much does one cycle of the “power stroke” shorten the muscle in the percentage of the muscle’s resting length?
Typically about 1% of the muscles resting length.
What is excitation-contraction coupling?
The act of depolarization of a muscle(excitation) that results in the contraction of the muscle.
State the steps of muscle excitation.
1) Impulse arrives at NMJ
2) ACh is released and diffused across the synaptic cleft
3) ACh causes an end-plate potential that depolarizes the muscle cell
4) Depolarization travels through T-tubules and causes release of Ca from the sarcoplasmic reticulum
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