Muscle I, II, III Flashcards
What are the three classes of muscle?
Skeletal, cardia, and smooth
What is a myofiber?
Long cylindrical cell also called a muscle fiber
What is myofiber diameter?
50-100 um (and several cm long)
How many nuclei in skeletal muscle cell?
Hundreds
Where are skeletal muscle cell nuclei located?
Periphery (out of the way of the business of being a muscle).
What does it mean if a muscle cell has a centrally located nucleus?
Fiber is damaged and/or undergoing repair
Why is skeletal muscle striated in appearance?
Precise and repeating alignment of myofilaments
What are three types of fibers found in skeletal muscle?
Slow twitch and 2 fast twitch
What is the “checkerboard” pattern in skeletal muscle?
Staining shows the random distribution of fiber types in a muscle.
What happens to the “checkerboard” pattern in skeletal muscle, and why?
It can change over time if the muscle is partially denervated and subsequently reinnervated.
How is cardiac muscle different from skeletal muscle?
Much smaller in diameter, shorter, only one nucleus
What is a distinguishing feature of cardiac muscle?
Intercalated discs
What functions do intercalated discs in cardiac muscle serve?
1) Physically ties together adjacent cells so they don’t pull apart when contracting.
2) Contain gap junctions for the transmission of electrical current from one cell to the next.
Why do intercalated discs of the cardiac muscle contain gap junctions?
Current transmission from one cell to the next for action potential propagation (synchronous contraction).
How many nuclei are in smooth muscle cells?
One
What diameter are smooth muscle cells?
2-5 um (smallest diameter muscle fibers in body)
Describe smooth muscle shape
Not striated, but rather spindle shaped with the nucleus near the center
What is the basic unit of contraction in striated muscle?
Sarcomere
Describe sarcomeres
Series of repeating units in striated muscle that are the basic unit of contraction. Defined as extending from one Z line to the next Z line.
How does a sarcomere shorten in length?
Thick and thin filaments slide past each other.
What is a myofibril?
Bundle of contractile filaments in a muscle fiber.
What covers each myofibril?
Network of sarcoplasmic reticulum
What are the two primary (structural) fibers in a myofibril?
Actin (thin filament)
Myosin (thick filament)
What are the regulatory proteins in a myofibril?
tropomyosin and troponin
What are the two forms of actin?
G-actin (globular-single units)
F-actin (filamentous)
What type of actin makes up thin filaments in myofibrils?
F-actin (filamentous)
Describe the structure of filamentous actin (F-actin)
Double stranded and helical, like two strings of pearls held side by side and twisted)
How long is each thin filament in a myofibril?
1 um
Describe the shape of tropomyosin
rod shaped
How does tropomyosin interact with actin
Binds to 6-7 actin molecules of one strand
Where is troponin bound?
One end of a tropomyosin
What are thick filaments made of?
myosin
How big is the myosin protein?
470,000 Daltons
Describe the structure of myosin
Six proteins in three pairs
- one pair of large, heavy chains
- two pairs of small, light chains
Describe the heavy chain of the myosin protein
Forms a long alpha-helical region with a globular head. The alpha-helical regions of each of the heavy chains wraps around the other to form a long rod with the globular heads near each other.
What is the position of the light chains in the thick filament
Not exactly known, but are “associated” with the globular heads of the heavy chains.
How long are thick filaments in myofibrils?
1.6 um, contain 300-400 myosins
Why are thick filaments 1.6 microns long, while thin filaments are 1.0 microns long?
Not known!
But perhaps regulated by additional proteins that have been identified as associating with the thick and thin filaments
What region of the thick filament interacts with actin?
The myosin heads
Where is the ATPase activity located in a myofibril?
At the actin-myosin junction
What prevents the binding of myosin to actin?
In the relaxed state, the binding site on actin is covered by tropomyosin.
What uncovers the actin binding site?
As intracellular free calcium rises, troponin binds Ca++ and undergoes a conformational change. Because troponin is bound to tropomyosin, tropomyosin also undergoes a conformation change and exposes the binding sites on actin. This allows myosin to bind to actin
When does myosin use ATP?
After the “pull stroke,” myosin remains bound to actin until ATP binds to it, allowing dissociation from actin via ATP hydrolysis.
How would you characterize myosin when it initially binds to actin?
Like a pre-coiled spring, ready to act.
Describe the motion of the myosin head
It rotates relative to the neck region where the light chains bind.
What is the magnitude of the force exerted by myosin on actin?
5 picoNewtons (pN)
By how much does a sarcomere shorten for one pull of a myosin head?
about 8 nanometers
How does myosin release actin after its pull stroke?
Needs ATP to bind to it, which simultaneously recoils myosin for another pull stroke
How does a muscle shorten by several centimeters?
Lots of linearly summated sarcomeres working together, each shortening by 8 nm, and many repeated actin-myosin interaction cycles per contraction
How fast does fast twitch muscle turn over?
About 20 times per second
How fast does slow twitch muscle turn over?
About 5 times per second
How is smooth muscle contraction different from skeletal and cardiac?
No troponin, but Ca++ is still key regulatory molecule.
What is a cross bridge?
It’s the structure that is formed when the heavy chain reaches out and binds to actin filament via the myosin head
Describe the Ca++ chain of events in smooth muscle contraction
1) Increased Ca++ –> bind calmodulin
2) Ca-calmodulin binds CaM kinase, activating it
3) light chain on myosin head phosphorylated
4) phosphorylated myosin binds actin to generate force
5) ATP hydrolysis resets cycle
What is the speed of slow muscle contraction compared to skeletal muscle or cardiac muscle contraction?
Slow (up to 1 second to generate full force)
How is Ca++ removed from smooth muscle cell?
Ca++ pumps and Na-Ca exchangers in the sarcolemma
What happens when Ca++ is removed from smooth muscle cell?
CaM kinase is inactivated, subsequently a phosphatase dephosphorylates myosin
What can smooth muscle do that skeletal muscle does not?
Can remain bound and locked in a contracted state without consuming ATP (i.e., actin and myosin do not decouple)
What is another structural protein (other than actin and myosin) in a myofilament?
Dystrophin protein
Mutation in dystrophin gene and protein leads to…
Duchenne muscular dystrophy
Describe dystrophin
Large, filamentous protein associated with both the cortical actin beneath the plasma membrane (not the thin filament actin) and the surface membrane. Dystrophin is part of a complex of membrane-spanning proteins that link the cytoskeleton with the extracellular matrix