Muscle Histology Flashcards
Which muscle types are striated (i.e. have alternating dark and light bands)?
skeletal and cardiac
What is epimysium?
dense irregular CT surrounding the entire muscle
NOTE: most muscles are too large to be sectioned in their entirety and so the epimysium will only occasionally be present in tissue sections
What is the name of the dense irregular CT that divides muscles into fascicles/bundles?
Perimysium
[contains collagen fibers, but seem to be ‘empty spaces’]
What tissue type is endomysium and where can it be found?
loose CT (delicate)
surrounds individual muscle cells
contains capillaries and nerve fibers
T or F: skeletal muscle cells have a single nucleus located at the periphery of the cell.
False, they have multiple nuclei at the cell periphery (i.e. just under the plasma membrane (termed the sarcolemma))
What is the morphology of skeletal muscle cells?
long and cylindrical
Called fibers
What are myofibrils, and where can they be found?
cylindrical units located in the sarcoplasm (muscle cell cytoplasm) that run the length of the muscle fiber
What are T-tubules?
invaginations of the sarcolemma that encircle all of the myofibrils
What is a sarcoplasmic reticulum and what are its contents?
Highly elaborated smooth ER that encircles each myofibril and stores calcium
A sarcomere is the basic functional unit of a skeletal muscle fiber
What is contained in the cytoplasm between the myofibrils?
mitochondria and glycogen granules (for energy), and sarcoplasmic reticulum
What makes up a myofibril?
a chain of sarcomeres
T or F: muscle fibers can be characterized by their alternating light and dark bands
T
What forms the boundaries of each sarcomere?
z-line
What are thin filaments composed of and where do they insert?
- made of actin
- insert on z-line
What are thick filaments?
- occupy the center of the sarcomere
- consist of ~250 myosin units
- bilaterally symmetric and staggered
- bipolar
T or F: thick filaments contain globular myosin heads on both sides of the sarcomere?
T
Describe the relationship between thin and thick filaments?
- parallel
- interdigitated
- partly overlapping
What is the A band?
dArk band- aka central region were thick filaments (containing myosin) are located
What is the I band?
LIght band - central regions where thin (actin) filaments are located
T or F: the A band spans two adjacent sarcomeres?
False - the I band does this
What causes then filaments to slide past thick filaments toward the center of the sarcomere?
power stroke that results from myosin heads hydrolyzing ATP
T or F: to contract, each of the ~500 myosin heads of the thick filament must hydrolyze and complete the power stroke a few times
T
What band shortens in muscle contraction?
I band due to increased overlapping of actin and myosin
How does perimysium appear with H and E staining?
clear, but it does contain collagen fibers
T or F: all three types of muscle have epimysium and perimysium
False; only skeletal muscle has all three layers
T or F: cardiac muscle has endomysium surrounding individual cells.
True
Note: smooth muscle has none of the three layers
What is the plasma membrane of the muscle cell called?
sarcolemma (cytoplasm = sarcoplasm)
what are cross striations?
alternating light and dark bands seen in longitudinal sections of skeletal muscle
What is the m-line?
dark line in the Middle of the sarcomere