Muscle Tissue Flashcards
THree types of muscle tissue
Skeletal Smooth Cardiac
Skeletal Muscle
40% of the body’s weight
Responsible for voluntary movements
Attached to bones
Cell shape long and cylindrical
Smooth msucle
Most widely distributed muscle in the body Involuntary; performs necessary functions such as moving food through digestive tracts, etc. The cell is spindle-shaped
Cardiac muscle
Only found in the heart Contracts spontaneously and rhythmically Involuntary Cells are cylindrical and branched
Functions of skeletal msucle
1) movement of pody 2) mantenance of posture 3) Respiration 4) Production of body heat 5) Communication (speaking, writing, typing, etc.)
Function of smooth muscle
Constriction of organs and vessels
Function of cardiac muscle
Contraction of the heart
4 functional properties of muscle tissue
COntractility Excitability Extensibility Elasticity
Contractility
The ability of muscle to shorten forcefully and lengthen passively
Excitability
Capacity fof muscle to respond to electrical stimulus
Extensibility
ability of muscle to be stretched eyond normal resting length and still be able to contract
Elasticity
ability of muscle to spring back to its original resting length after beign stretched
Skeletal muscle fibers
a complete skeletal muscle organic consisting of cells
Fascicles
A visible bundle of connective tissue that composes a muscle
Perimyseum
A layer of connecteive tissue that surrounds a fasciculus
Epimysium
A layer of dense irregular collagenous connective tissue that surrounds the entire muscle
Muscular fascia
Sheets of dense irregular collagenous connective tissue that separates individual muscles or groups of muscles. Located superficial to the epimysium
Motor neurons
Speicalized nerve cell responsible for stimulating skeletal muscle contraction Originate in teh brain adn spinal cord and extend to skeletal muscle fibers through nerves
Muscle fibers
Each cell is a muscle fiber Long, cylindrical cells Several nuclei Striated
Myoblasts
multinucleated immature cells that develop muscle fibers
Hypertrophy
Increase in size of muscle, not number of muscle fibers
Sarcolemma
The plasma membrane of a muscle fiber
External lamina
delicate connective tissue layer outside the sarcolemma
Endomysium
Second layer outside the sarcolemma
Tranverse tubules (T tubules)
Found along the surface of the sarcolemma
Sarcoplasmic reticulum
The smooth endoplasmic reticulum of the muscle fiber
Sarcoplasm
The cytoplasm of a muscle cell
Myofibrils
bundles of protein filaments found in the sarcoplasm
Myofilaments
Long, thin protein filaments inside a myofibril
2 types of myofilaments
Actin myofilaments (thin) myosin myofilaments (thick)
Sarcomere
units of actin and myosin myofilaments that are arranged in an ordered fashion or form myofibrils Basic structural and functional unity of skeletal muscle. Smallest portion of the muscle capable of contracting
Z disks
Separate one sarcomere from the next
Sarcomere striated appearance is caused by
2 I-bands (light stain) 1 A anisotropic band (I-band) (dark stain
Mysoin structure

Actin myofilament structure

Action potentials
Electrical signals from motor neurons that stiumlate muscle fibermovement
Neuromuscular junction/synapse
Where the motor neuron axon branches meet with muscle fiber

ACh (acetylcholine)
organic molecule of acetic acid and choline.
The neurotransmitter that stimulates or inhibits production of action potential
Sliding filament model
How a muscle contracts.
Parallel arrangement of myofilaments in a sarcomere allows them to interact
Membrane potential
Charge difference across the plasma membrane of an unstimulated cell
Two types of gated ion channels
Ligand-gated ion channels - open when a ligand (chemical signal like a neurotransmitter) binds to a receptor
Voltage-gated ion channels - open and close in response to particular membrane potential. Na+, K+, and Ca2+ are the major ones.
Action potential
Reversal of resting membrane protential
Inside of plasma membrane becomes positively charged
Opens ion channels, diffiusion of ions through these channels changes
2 phases - depolarization adn repolarization
Threshold
Where an actional potential is triggered if depolarization is strong enough
All or none principle
All action potentials are identical. If a stimulus is strong enough to produce a depolarization that reaches a threshold, or even exceeds the threshold, all of the permeability changes proceed.