musculoskeletal system Flashcards
why do skeletal muscles appear striated under the microscope?
- highly organised nature of sarcomeres
- actin & myosin are arranged in an orderly structure within the sarcomeres
what are actin & myosin?
contractile proteins
why are smooth muscles not striated?
actin & myosin are arranged irregularly so they appear uniform under a microscope
3 types of muscle tissue
- skeletal
- cardiac
- smooth
skeletal muscle
- long cylindrical cells
- many nuclei per cell (lots of satellite cells fused together)
- striated due to sarcomeres
- voluntary
- rapid contractions
- limbs, face…
cardiac muscle
- branching cells
- 1 or 2 nuclei per cell
- striated
- involuntary
- medium speed contractions
- only in the heart
why does cardiac muscle have branching cells?
to facilitate uniformal contractions
why are cardiac muscles always slightly contracted?
to prevent fully emptying a chamber in the heart
smooth muscle
- fusiform cells
- one nucleus per cell
- non striated (actin & myosin irregularly arranged)
- involuntary
- slow, wave like contractions
- GI tract / organs
what is an isometric contraction?
- produces no movement
- while standing, sitting & posture
- force produced with no change
what is an isotonic contraction?
- produces movement
- walking, moving anything in the body
what is an isokinetic contraction?
moving with the same constant velocity
what does the Z disc do?
- stabilised / hold actin filaments together
- allows transfer of forces between sarcomeres
what does a myosin molecule consist of?
- 2 twisted together
- has a tail and head
- head = attaches to actin molecules
what does the thin (actin) filament consist of?
- 2 twisted actin molecules
- troponin complex
- tropomyosin
- G actin
what does the thick (myosin) filament consist of?
myosin molecules with globular heads (pointing outwards) which form cross-bridges with / can attach to actin molecules
troponin complex
- protein needed for muscle contraction
- calcium binds to it to trigger musclular force
- in thin filament
tropomyosin
- proteins
- regulates muscle contraction by mediating interactions between troponin complex and actin
- in thin filament (actin)
H band
- zone of thick filaments with no actin
- M line in H band
M line
- middle of sarcomere
- formed by cross connecting elements of cytoskeleton
what does the addition of calcium trigger?
- activates the contractile proteins (troponin complex)
- muscle contraction
what is meant by the term motor unit?
motor unit describes a functional group comprised of a motor neuron and its axons (branching into the muscle) and the innervated muscle fibres
what do cardiac muscle fibres determine?
they organise how cardiac output is produced
parts of the skeletal system
- bones
- joints
- cartilages
- ligaments
the skeletal system is divided into 2 divisions
- axial skeleton
- appendicular skeleton
what is the axial skeleton?
- skull, vertebral column, rib cage
- forms longitudinal part of the body
what is the appendicular skeleton?
limbs and girdle
(girdle: either of two more or less complete bony rings at the anterior and posterior ends of the vertebrate trunk supporting the arms and legs respectively)
functions of bone
- support
- protection
- assisting in movement
- mineral storage
- red blood cell production
- chemical energy storage (fats)
how does the skeleton support the body?
- it is the body framework
- supports soft tissue
- provides attachment points for most skeletal muscle
- helps allow simple movement without the expanditure of too much energy
how does the skeleton protect the body?
protects delicate organs:
- ribs protect the heart and lungs
- skull protects the brain
why do the ribs need to be flexible?
- to allow the dissipation of energy throughout the body
- to distribute force
how does the skeleton help movement?
muscles contract and pull on bones which gives rise to movement
bones and mineral storage
- outer layer of bony tissue used for mineral storage
- mainly calcium and phosphorus
- can be taken from bone (osteoclasts) -> blood stream if blood levels to low
bones and blood cell production
- red, white blood cells and platelets made in bones
- red bone marrow = in ends of long bones and some other bones like ribs, femur, humerus & vertebrae bones
- blood cells produced in red bone marrow
- yellow bone marrow = in the shaft of long bones
- no blood cells produced in yellow bone marrow
where is fat stored in bones?
in adipocytes in yellow bone marrow
role of spongy bone
- balances the dense and heavy compact bone -> makes bone lighter -> muscles can move them easier
- when load is put on bones it helps distribute it
how many bones are in the skeleton?
206
what are the 2 basic types of bone tissue?
- compact bone (homogenous)
- spongy bone (small, needle-like pieces of bone with many open spaces for blood supply)
are bones easy to repair? why?
- yes (better than tendons and cartilage)
- due to high vascularisation
long bones
- longer than they are wide
- movement
- arms, legs…
short bones
- square, cube like
- stability & support instead of movement
- wrist, ankle…
flat bones
- flat, curved
- protection
- skull, sternum…
irregular bones
- odd shapes
- vertebrae, pelvis (wide area where many muscles come togethet)
types of bone cells
- osteocytes
- osteoblasts
- osteoclasts
osteocytes
- mature bone cells
- constantly being replaced by osteoblasts
osteoblasts
- bone-forming cells
- rebuilds bone if fractured
osteoclasts
- bone-destroying cells
- break down bone matrix for re-modeling and release calcium
what does bone re-modeling require?
- osteoblasts
- osteoclasts
what is the skeleton in embryos?
hyaline cartilage
-> replaced by bone during development
where did cartilage not get replaced by bone during development?
- bridge of the nose
- parts of the ribs -> flexibility
- joints
how many bones does the skull have?
22
the hyoid bone
- only bone that does not articulate with other bones
- moveable base for the tongue and othr muscle attachments
- broken when being chocked -> changes in breathing pattern as a result
the hyoid bone
- only bone that does not articulate with other bones
- moveable base for the tongue and othr muscle attachments
- broken when being chocked -> changes in breathing pattern as a result
what is a joint?
- an articulation
- where two bones come together
types of joints
- fibrous
- cartilaginous
- synovial
fibrous joint
- immovable / no movement
- connects bones
- skull & pelvis