Muscular System Flashcards
Skeletal Muscle
Voluntary, against the bones
Cardiac Muscle
Involuntary, in heart
Smooth Muscle
Involuntary, bladder, stomach, uterus, intestines
Excitability
Able to send electrical waves (action potential) along the entire length
Elasticity
Having the ability to recoil back to its original length
Extensibility
Allows muscles to stretch or extend
Contractility
Allows muscles to pull on its attachment and shorten
Fascicle
The muscle fibers that are arranged in bundles
Epimysium
Outermost layer, surrounds entire muscle
Perimysium
Separates and surrounds fascicles
Endomysium
Surrounds each individual muscle fiber
Sarcolemma
Muscle fiber membrane
Myofibril
Individual parallel muscle fibers (made up of actin and myosin)
Sarcoplasm
Inner material surrounding the myofibril (equivalent to the cell’s cytoplasm)
Actin
Thin filaments