Muscles Flashcards
What are the characteristics of muscle tissue?
Excitability
Contractility
Extensibility
Elasticity
What is excitability?
The ability to receive and respond to stimulus
What is contractility?
The ability to produce tension/force when stimulated
“Shortening”
What is extensibility?
The ability to be stretched, “lengthen”
What is elasticity?
The ability to recoil to resting length
What are the functions of muscle tissue?
Movement of bones or fluids
Maintaining of posture and body position
Stabilizing joints
Heat generation (esp. true for skeletal)
What is the difference between skeletal muscles and cardiac and smooth muscles as far as nerve impulses?
Skeletal muscles are voluntary
Cardiac/Smooth muscles are involuntary
True or False: Skeletal muscles regenerate after being “torn” during exercise.
False. We are born with a set number and that’s how many we have
What is unique about the structure of cardiac muscles?
They are branched and connect to each other in chains
What is the epimysium?
The top, dense layer of connective tissue covering everything
What are fascicles?
Groups of muscle tissue fibers connected together
What is the perimysium?
The connective tissue holding fascicles together
What is sarcolemma?
The special name for the plasma membrane of muscle cells
What is a myofibril?
A stack of fibrous muscle cells (sarcomeres) within the sarcolemma.
This organelle is unique to skeletal muscles
What is a sarcomere?
The smallest prt of a myofibril
An A-Band (stacks of overlapping actin and myosin*)between two protein “caps” called Z-Discs.
The middle space between two z-discs is just myosin, this is called the M-line
Which protein is a thin filament and which is a thick filament?
Actin: Thin
Myosin: Thick
The thin membrane coating each myofibril is called what?
Sarcoplasmic Reticulum
What is a Triad?
1 T-tubule aka Transverse tubule of sarcolemma around 2 terminal cisternae storing Ca2+
What are the “contractile proteins”
Actin and myosin
What is the difference between troposin and tropmyosin?**
Tropomyosin covers actin and myosin heads bind to it
Troponin covers tropomyosin. When it binds to Ca2+ it changes its shape, revealing the active sites
Where does activation happen and what is that?
In the motor end plate
A stimulation (AP) travels down a neuron to a neuromuscular junction.
ACh is released into the sarcolemma via exocytosis
What is a neuromuscular junction?
A muscle synapse: the place where a muscle neuron’s synaptic bulb meets the motor end plate
Where does excitation take place, what is it?
In the muscle membrane (sarcolemma)
The membrane is depolarized, ACh binds to receptors on motor end plates and opens ligand-gated channels, allowing Na+ in and K+ out
This depolarization opens voltage-gates Na+ channels, which causes an AP that changes the shape of T-tubules
The sarcolemma receives an influx of Ca2+, which binds to troponin and exposes the active sites on actin
Note: This is always a nicotinic receptor, EPSP
What happens during Excitation-Contraction?
ATP provides energy for mysofilaments to slide together. Myosin heads bind to actin and shorten the sarcomere.
A second ATP causes the mysosin head to unlatch
What is the latent period?
The time between excitation and depolarization
What is the Cross-Bridge Cycle?
Energized myosin heads attach to actin, this is called the “working stroke” or “power stroke”
The myosin head is cocked back by a second ATP molecule
Note: This will happen as long as ATP and Ca2+ are present
What is meant by muscle relaxation?
Ca2+ is pumped back into the SR, tropomyosin rolls back over and covers the binding sites of actin
What is rigor mortis?
When a person dies the stored Ca2+ in their terminal cisternae flood the sarcolemma and the ATP still left in their system causes all the myosin to keep cocking forward and contracting until it runs out
What is the difference between isometric and isotonic contractions?
Isometric - Tension is constant but muscle length stays the same
Isotonic - Muscle length changes the same but tension remains the same
What is tension
The force exerted on the load of an object, created by contraction
True or False: contraction means the muscle shortens
False. In concentric contractions the muscle shortens, in eccentric contractions the muscle grows in length
What is a motor unit?
A single motor neuron and the muscle fibers it supplies
What parts of the body have more motor end units?
Fingers, lips, etc.
Areas where fine, precise motor control is more important
What parts of the body have large motor units?
Thighs, back, anywhere that is weight-bearing
What is the definition if a muscle twitch?
The response if a muscle to a single, brief threshold stimulus.
It is the simplest contraction observable in a lab
What are the three phases of a muscle twitch?
Latent Period - E-C Coupling
Period of Contraction - Cross-Brudge formation, increasing tension
Period of Relaxation - Ca2+ re entering SR, tension declines to 0
What are the factors that affect tension?
Type
Load
Recruitment
True or false: If a muscle fiber is re-stimulated after it has relaxed it will have the same magnitude as the initial twitch but if second twitch occurs before relaxation the magnitude will stack
True
What do we cal maximum, sustained contraction?
Tetanus
What involuntary factors will cause a muscle to relax?
Running out of ATP or Ca2+
What is threshold stimulus?
The first observable muscle contraction
What controls contraction force?
Recruitment. More and larger fibers are recruited as stimulus intensity (load) increases. This is known as the size principle
What is the optimum sarcomere operating length?
80-120% of resting length
What is the effect of steroids on skeletal muscles?
Increased protein synthesis
What is the effect of HGH on skeletal muscles?
An increased number of fibers in myofilaments
What is hypertrophy?
An increase in the size of a muscle fiber
What is treppe?
aka “The Staircase Effect”, an increased contraction in a response to multiple stimuli of the same intensity due to increased Ca2+ release and heat. A little relaxation occurs, then a stacked magnitude, creating a staircase effect
What is muscle tone?
There is a small alternating current passing through muscles at all times due to spinal reflexes responding to stretch receptors. Keeps muscles ready to respond.
How are different muscle fiber types classified?
Speed and Metabolic Pathway:
Slow oxidative (red, endurance)
Fast oxidative (pink)
Fast glycolytic (white, power strokes)
True or False: The smaller the load the faster the contraction
True
What is the only energy source for contractive activities?
ATP
What are the ways ATP is generated for contraction?
Stores are depleted in 4-6 seconds
Regenerated via:
10 sec in
Direct phosphorylation of ADP by creatine phosphate
40-40 sec in
Anaerobic pathway (glycolysis)
theb
Aerobic Respiration
What is muscle fatigue and what causes it?
The inability to contract
Caused by:
-ionic imbalances (K+, Ca2+, K+, P) interferes with E-C coupling
-Prolonged exercise damaging SR
-A complete and total lack of ATP (rare)