Muscle Flashcards
What are the boundaries of a sarcomere?
from one Z line to another Z line
What are myofibrils?
- bundles of contractile filaments
- make up a muscle fiber
- covered with its own network of sarcoplasmic reticulum
What are the regulatory proteins of myofibrils?
tropomyosin and troponin
What are the thin filaments in a muscle fiber?
- what myosin binds to
- made of actin
- tropomyosin and troponin (regulatory proteins) bind to the actin filaments
What are the thick filaments in a muscle fiber?
- made of myosin
- myosin heads interact with actin
- actin-myosin work together for contraction with ATPase
What prevents the binding of myosin to actin in the relaxed state?
tropomyosin
How is the binding site for myosin uncovered?
troponin binds to Ca2+ and undergoes a conformational change -> induces conformational change in tropomyosin
Why does myosin exert force as soon as it binds?
the energy is released upon binding because it does not need ATP in order to exert force
What causes myosin to release from actin?
ATP binding and hydrolysis puts myosin into a high energy state
How do we get so much muscle shortening?
- lots of sarcomeres in series will summate linearly
- many myosin-actin cycles occur during a single contraction
Is regulation of cardiac muscle like skeletal muscle?
yes
How is smooth muscle regulated?
- no troponin
- increased Ca2+ binds to calmodulin
- Ca-calmodulin binds to CaM kinase and phosphorylates the myosin head
- phosphorylated myosin binds to actin and generates force
Is the process of smooth muscle activation faster or slower than skeletal and cardiac muscle?
much slower
How is calcium removed in smooth muscle?
Ca pumps and Na-Ca exchangers in the sarcolemma
Each skeletal muscle cell of a mammal is innervated at _____ spot.
one
An action potential in the motor axon causes release of ___________.
acetylcholine