Non-striated muscle Flashcards
Describe the activity of non-striated muscle.
Weak, slow and involuntary contraction
What is an example of a muscle that is non-striated?
Smooth muscle.
Where are smooth muscle found?
The walls of hollow organs and blood vessels where they need to contract and stretch.
Are smooth muscle cells multinucleate?
No, each cell has a single nucleus in the centre.
How are the cells in smooth muscles connected?
Specialised cell junctions called, gap junctions
How does smooth muscle have contractile abilities without striations?
Because they still have actin and myosin but they’re more randomly organised, thus there are no repeating areas of myofilament overlap. The thin filaments also do not have troponin.
Where can I find myoepithelial cells? What are they?
Found surrounding ducts and in the basement membrane of epithelial cells. The contract and squeeze the duct to extrude the contents. Myoepithelial cells are basically single smooth muscle cells.
True or false: smooth muscle cell has the lowest ability to regenerate?
False, they have the greatest ability. New cells can also be produced by the division of cells called pericytes.
