Muscle Flashcards
What are the 4 tissue types?
Epithelial, connective, nervous, muscle
What are the 3 types of muscle?
Skeletal, cardiac, smooth
Function of skeletal muscle
contract to produce movement of skeleton (attached to bone)
Function of cardiac muscle
Movement/Pumping of blood through cardiovascular system
Function of smooth muscle
movement of substance through visceral, hollow organs
What are the 3 ways of classifying muscle?
- by the way it is controlled whether it is the somatic (voluntary) or autonomic (involuntary) NS
- structure (striated or not)
- Muscle type - cardiac, skeletal, smooth
When can skeletal muscle contraction be subconscious?
For maintaining posture/balance
What is an alternative name for skeletal muscle cells?
Fibres
Structure of muscle fibres
elongated, cylindrical, multinucleated cells containing myofibrils made of repeating units of myofilaments
Where are the nuclei located in a muscle fibre?
Around peripheral edge (no space else where)
Why is an individual skeletal muscle an organ?
Composed of multiple tissue types. Mainly skeletal muscle tissue but also nervous tissue, blood vessels, connective tissues.
What is the name of the dense irregular connective tissue encasing each muscle?
Epimysium
Function of the epimysium
Separates muscle from other tissues and organs
How is muscle tissue arranged?
Arranged into bundles (fascicles) of muscle fibres
What is the name of a bundle in skeletal muscle?
Fascicle (pl. fasciculi)
What is the perimysium?
Loose connective tissue that encases each fascicle
What is the name of the loose connective tissue that encases each muscle fibre?
Endomysium
Function of endomysium
Separates individual muscle fibres from their neighbours
Function of tendon
Helps to transfer the force of the muscle contraction to bone
What is a tendon formed from?
The epimysium, perimysium and endomysium come together at the tapered end of a muscle to form a tendon. Gives a very strong attachment to bone
Where do blood vessels and nerves exist in skeletal muscle?
Spread through connective tissue (epimysium, perimysium, endomysium). Each muscle fibre has its own blood supply.
What feature gives the striated appearance in skeletal muscle?
The arrangement of the numerous myofibrils which have a repeating pattern of myosin and actin (myofilaments)
What are myofibrils?
Tubular structures that make up the majority of muscle fibres. Myofibrils are composed of repeating protein units called myofilaments (actin and myosin)
What are the two types of myofilaments?
Actin and myosin
What is the cytoskeleton present in all cells formed from?
Actin and myosin (different arrangement in muscle fibres - specialised for contraction)
What is actin?
Thin myofilament that forms light bands
What is myosin?
Thick myofilament that forms dark bands
How are myofibrils divided into sarcomeres?
By Z lines which bisect the light bands (actin anchored to Z lines)
What are sarcomeres?
The contractile units of skeletal muscle
How does muscle contract?
When the muscle fibre is excited, actin slides over myosin by the sliding filament model causing the shortening of the sarcomeres and therefore the myofibril shortens.
What is the I band composed of?
Actin filaments only. Bisected by Z line
What is the A band composed of?
Myosin and overlapping actin filaments