Muscle Physiology Flashcards
skeletal muscle cells
Voluntary
attached to bones or skin
very long, cylindrical
multinucleated
not self stimulated
no rhythmic contractions
fatigues easily
cardiac muscle cells
involuntary
branching
only in heart
self stimulated
striated
does not fatigue
cardiac muscles are… (characteristics)
striated
elongated
branched cells (linked via intercalated disks)
desmosomes (cardiac muscle cells)
specialized cell junctions along intercalated disks between cells “spot welds”
withstand high mechanical stress from myocardial beating
gap junctions (cardiac muscle cells)
provide electrical conduction that enables intercalated cells to beat as a single conductive unit (syncytium)
what enters cytoplasm from both the sarcoplasmic reticulum stores and extracellular sources
Calcium
- L-type calcium channel enables Ca2+-induced calcium release
autorhythmicity
intrinsic pacemaker cells (cardiac muscle cells)
What type of respiration do cardiac muscle cells primarily use?
aerobic respiration
able to moderately resist fatigue (large mitochondria)
high myoglobin content for O2 storage
cardiac myocytes don’t _____ but are …
don’t fatigue easily BUT they are very sensitive to ischemia/hypoxia
smooth muscle cell’s shape and nucleus?
spindle-shaped and mononucleated
T/F: smooth muscle cells form sheets on the walls of hollow organs and some blood vessels
TRUE
smooth muscle cells: voluntary or involuntary control?
involuntary control
slow, rhythmic (wave-like) contractions
T/F: smooth muscles cells are striated
FALSE:
smooth muscle cells are NOT striated (not organized into sarcomeres)
smooth muscle cell organization
thin (actin) fibers are attached to the cell wall and to dense bodies in the cytoplasm between myosin bundles
smooth muscle cell activation causes what?
When activated, thin actin fibers slide over the myosin bundles causing shortening of the cell walls
smooth muscle cells contracted vs contracted state
crumples up when contracted
motor unit
the functional unit of skeletal muscle
a motor unit is composed of…
composed of an alpha motor neuron and all the muscle fibers (myofibrils) it innervates
alpha motor neuron axon characteristics
synapse with up to thousands of muscle fibers BUT each muscle fiber is connected to only ONE alpha motor neuron
motor unit recruitment
the process by which more and more motor units are put into action
the greater the number/size of the motor units recruited, the more powerful the contraction
sarcomere
a structural unit of myofibril in striated muscle
gives Striated Muscle its “striped” appearance
sarcomere is composed of…
myosin (thick)
actin (thin)
both protein filaments
arrangement of sarcomere
sarcomere: what does the z-disk do?
anchor for actin filaments
sarcomere: what is the I-band?
space between A-bands containing only actin and z-disk
sarcomere: what is the H-zone?
forms the center (lightest part) of the A-band
contains myosin filaments only
shortens during contraction
sarcomere: M-line
middle/midline of the H-zone and the A-band
accessory proteins anchor myosin to M-line
sarcomere: A-band
darker, thicker band containing both myosin and actin
length does not change during contraction