muscular system vocab

Question 1

fascia

Answer 1

sheet of fibrous connective tissue that encloses a muscle

Question 2

tendon

Answer 2

cordlike/bandlike mass of white fibrous connective tissue that connects a muscle to a bone

Question 3

myofibril

Answer 3

contractile fibers within muscle cells

Question 4

actin

Answer 4

protein in a muscle fiber that forms filaments that slide between filaments of the protein myosin, contracting muscle fibers

Question 5

sarcomere

Answer 5

structural and functional unit of a myofibril

Question 6

myosin

Answer 6

protein that actin contracts and relaxes muscle fibers

Question 7

motor neurons

Answer 7

neuron that transmits impulses from the central nervous system to an effector

Question 8

origin

Answer 8

end of a muscle that attaches to a relatively immovable part

Question 9

insertion

Answer 9

end of a muscle attached to a movable part

Question 10

threshold stimulis

Answer 10

stimulation level that must be exceeded to elicit a nerve impulse or a muscle contraction

Question 11

twitch

Answer 11

brief muscular contraction followed by relaxation

Question 12

muscle tone

Answer 12

contraction of some fibers in skeletal muscle at any given time

Question 13

latent period

Answer 13

time between the application of a stimulus and the beginning of a response in a muscle fiber

Question 14

refractory period

Answer 14

timer period following stimulation during which a neuron muscle fiber will not respond to a stimulus

Question 15

synaptic cleft

Answer 15

a narrow extracellular space between the presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons

Question 16

neurotransmitters

Answer 16

chemical that an axon end secretes to stimulate a muscle fiber to contract or a neuron to fire an impulse