Muscle Structure & Function

Question 1

What is muscle tissue divided into?

Answer 1

• Cardiac muscle: found in heart, very little ability for repair, involuntary contractions, one nucleus.
• Skeletal muscle: ability to partially repair themselves, if injury is bad harder to repair which leads to scar tissue, voluntary contractions, multi-nucleated.
• Smooth muscle: found in walls of organs, ability to repair itself, involuntary contractions, single nucleus.

Question 2

What are the functions of muscle tissue?

Answer 2

• Produces body movements
• Stabilises body positions
• Regulates organ volumes (bands of smooth muscle called sphincters)
• Movement of substances within the body
• Produces heat

Question 3

What are the properties of muscle tissue?

Answer 3

• EXCITABILITY - respond to chemicals from nerve cells
• CONDUCTIVITY - ability to propagate electrical signals over membrane
• CONTRACTILITY - ability to shorten and generate force
• EXTENSIBILITY - ability to be stretched without damaging tissue
• ELASTICITY - able to return to original shape after being stretched