Muscle physiology Flashcards
Extensibility
Ability to be able to stretch without sustaining damage.
Excitability
Muscle responds to stimulus by producing electrical signal.
Elasticity
Able to return to it’s original shape.
Conductivity
Muscles ability to be able to propagate(spread and promote) signals. Electrical signals will have to be transmitted at different levels.
Contractility
Muscles ability to shorten, thicken, thus producing force, in response to a specific stimulus.
How do striations appear on skeletal muscles?
Skeletal muscle fibers have A-bands(dark) and I-bands(light).
One A-band in the middle and an I-band on each side.
Sarcomere
Consists of an A-band and half an I-band on each side.
In the middle of an A-band is H-zone, in the middle of H-zone is M-line.
In the middle of an I-band is Z-disc.
Sarcomere is from one Z-disc to another.
Triad
Consist of one T-tubule and a terminal cisternae on each side.
Terminal cisternae
Enlarged areas of the sarcoplasmic reticulum, on each side of T-tubules.
Store Ca2+ (calcium ions).
Sliding filament theory
The explanation for how muscles contract to produce force. Actin and myosin filaments within the sarcomeres of muscle fibers bind to create cross-bridges and slide past one another, creating a contraction.
9 steps.
Sliding filament theory - Step 1
Nerve impulse (action potential) reaches the end of a motoneuron - Release of neurotransmitter Acetylcholine (ACh). Ca2+ needed for this, as for the contraction it self.
Sliding filament theory - Step 2
ACh diffuses across neurotransmitter junctions and binds to receptors on the motor endplate of the muscle fiber.
Sliding filament theory - Step 3
Stimulation of receptors initiates impulses that travel along sarcolemma, through T-tubules, to the sacs of the Sarcoplasmic reticulum.
What is the functional unit of skeletal muscles?
Sarcomere
Sliding filament theory - Step 4
Ca2+ is released from the SR into the sarcoplasm, where it binds to troponin molecules in the thin myofilaments.
Sliding filament theory - Step 5
Tropomyosin is displaced.
Sliding filament theory - Step 6
Actin’s active sites are exposed.
Sliding filament theory - Step 7
Myosin binds to actin forming cross bridges. Myosin pull actin towards the center (M-line) and release, binding to another actin further down.
1 action potential is needed for each myosin - actin bond.
Sliding filament theory - Step 8
This cycle repeats itself many times per second, as long as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is available.
Sliding filament theory - Step 9.
As the filaments slide across each other the muscle shortens.
How are sodium(Na+) and potassium(K+) involved in muscle contractions?
When ACh binds to receptors in the sarcolemma, they open ion channels that allow passage of Na+ into the muscle and K+ out of the muscle. More Na+ enters the muscle, than K+ leaves which causes a depolarization.
Leading to an action potential in the sarcolemma.
Muscle metabolism
- Direct phosphorylation
- Anaerobic pathway
- Aerobic pathway
Direct phosphorylation
Energy source: Creatine phosphate
Not producing a lot of energy.
15 second activity.
No oxygen use, 1 ATP.