Muscles Pt. 1 Flashcards
Muscle has 4 common characteristics
-Excitability
-Contractibility
-Extensibility
-Elasticity
Excitability
Respond to a stimulus
Contractility
Shorten in length when stimulated
Extensibility
will stretch when pulled
Elasticity
return to normal shape and length
3 types of muscle
skeletal, cardiac, and smooth
Skeletal muscle
-controlled by the conscious mind
-Moves bones of the skeleton
-is usually what we think of when we hear the word muscle
Cardiac muscle
-found only in the heart
-starts the entire heart beating before an animal is born and keeps it going until it dies
Smooth Muscle is found where?
Found all over the body - eyes, air passageways, lungs, stomach/intestines
Skeletal Muscle - Gross Anatomy
Skeletal muscle is a group of muscle cells surrounded by a fibrous connective sheath called Epimysium (means upon muscle)
Most skeletal muscles are attached to bones at both ends by
Tendons - Tough, fibrous connective tissue - they are a continuation of the epimysium
Some muscles are attached to bones or other muscles by sheets of fibrous CT called
Aponeuroses
What is the most prominent aponeuroses??
Linea alba (white line) - Runs lengthwise between abdominal muscles on the ventral midline (where you cut during a spay)
Which site of attachment is the most stable?
origin of the muscle - does not move much when the muscle contracts
Which site of attachment undergoes the most movement?
insertion of the muscle
What happens to the muscle when a nerve impulse hits a muscle?
it contracts - pulls on its attachment - the contraction produces movement of bones and other structures
Skeletal muscles rarely act alone - they work in groups - One group _________ and the other _________
One group makes the movement - this group is known as the agonist (prime mover) - other groups stabilize nearby joints
Antagonist
muscles the directly opposed the action of an agonist
- partial contraction - antagonists can smooth out the movements of the agonist
-Can contract forcefully - results in rigidity and lack motion
Synergist
The skeletal muscle that contracts at the same time as an agonist and assists it in carrying out its action
- Ex: deep flexor muscle flexes the digit at the same time the superficial digital flexor flexes to aid in movement
Fixator
Stabilizes joint to allow other movements to take place
Skeletal muscle cells are large (not wide, but long), these are called
fibers rather than cells
Skeletal fibers can have up to 100 or more per fiber. All are located just beneath __________
the sarcolemma - muscle cell membrane
Muscle fibers are made up of hundreds or thousands of smaller _______ packed together lengthwise
myofibrils - these fibrils are made of thousands of even tinier protein filaments
Organelles between the myofibrils in a muscle fiber include:
-many energy producing mitochondria
-extensive network of sarcoplasmic reticulum - storage organelle for Ca ions
-A system of tubules called transverse tubules or T-tubules - extend in from the sarcolemma
One myofibril is made up of a series of protein filaments. Together they form the contractile units of a myofibril. Each contractile unit is known as _________
sarcomere - the basic contracting unity of skeletal muscle