Physiology Flashcards
What does it mean if a muscle is striated?
alternating dark bands and light bands
Describe skeletal muscle
Striated muscle under voluntary control - somatic nervous system
Describe cardiac muscle
Striated muscle under involuntary control - autonomic nervous system
Describe smooth muscle
Non-striated muscle under involuntary control - autonomic nervous system
Describe the initiation and propagation of contraction in skeletal muscle
Neurogenic initiation of contraction
Motor units
Neuromuscular junction present
No gap junctions present
Describe the initiation and propagation of contraction in cardiac muscle
Myogenic initiation of contraction
No neuromuscular junction
Gap junctions present
What are the functions of skeletal muscle?
- Maintenance of posture
- Purposeful movement in relation to external environment
- Respiratory movement
- Heat production
- Contribute to whole body metabolism
What is the motor unit of skeletal muscle?
a single alpha motor neuron and all the skeletal muscle fibres it innervates
How does the number of muscle fibres per motor unit vary in skeletal muscle?
- Muscles which serve fine movements (e.g. external eye muscles, muscles of facial expression, intrinsic hand muscles) have fewer fibres per motor unit - precision is more important than power
- Muscles (e.g. thigh muscles) where power is more important than precision will have hundreds to thousands of fibres per motor unit
Explain the organisation of muscle fibres.
- Skeletal muscle consists of parallel muscle fibres (skeletal muscle cells) bundled by connective tissue
- Skeletal muscle fibres usually extend the entire length of the muscle
- Skeletal muscles are usually attached to skeleton by tendons
- Bones, muscles and joints form lever systems that allow a range of body movements
What are myofibrils?
specialised intracellular structures
Describe the structure of myofibrils.
Myofibrils have alternating segments of thick (myocin - darker) and thin (actin - lighter) protein filaments
What are sarcomeres?
Within each myofibril actin and myocin are arranged into sarcomeres - these are the functional units of the muscle
What is a functional unit of an organ?
The functional unit of an organ is the smallest component of performing all the functions of the organ
Where are sarcomeres found?
found between two Z lines - connect the thin filaments of 2 adjoining sarcomeres
What are the 4 zones in a sarcomere?
A band
H zone
M line
I band
What is the A band?
made up of thick filaments along with portions of thin filaments that overlap in both ends of thick filaments
What is the H zone?
lighter area within middle of A-band where thin filaments don’t reach
What is the M line?
extends vertically down the middle of A-band within the centre of H-zone
What is the I band?
consists of remaining potion of thin filaments that do not project in the A-band
What is the sliding filament theory?
- muscle tension is produced by sliding of actin filaments on myocin filaments
- ATP required for contraction (powers cross bridges) and relaxation (release of cross bridges and to pump Ca2+ back into SR)
- Ca2+ required for cross bridge formation
Describe excitation-contraction coupling?
the process whereby surface action potential results in activation of the contractile structures of the muscle fibre
What is the role of calcium in excitation-contraction coupling?
Ca2+ is the link between excitation and contraction - in skeletal muscle fibres Ca2+ is released from the lateral sacs of the sarcoplasmic reticulum when the surface action potential spreads down the T-tubules
What are T-Tubules?
extensions of the surface membrane that dip into the muscle fibre
What are the stages of excitation-contraction coupling?
- ACh released by axon of motor neuron, crosses cleft and binds to receptors on motor end plate (no continuity of cytoplasm between nerve and skeletal muscle cells)
- Action potential generated in response to ACh is propagated across surface membrane and down T-tubules of muscle cell
- Action potential in T-tubules triggers Ca2+ release from sarcoplasmic reticulum
- Ca2+ ions released from lateral sacs bind to troponin on actin filaments - leads to tropomyosin being physically moved aside to uncover cross-bridge binding sites on actin
- Myosin across bridges attach to actin and bend, pulling actin filaments towards the centre of sacromere - energy is provided by ATP
- Ca2+ is actively taken up by SR when there is no longer action potential
- With Ca2+ no longer bound to troponin, tropomyosin slips back into its blocking position over binding sites on actin, contraction ends, actin passively slides back to resting position
What are the factors determining graduation of muscle tension?
Number of muscle fibres contracting within the muscle
Tension developed by each contracting muscle fibre
How does the number of muscle fibres contracting within the muscle determine graduation of muscle tension?
- A stronger contraction could be achieved by stimulation of more motor units - motor unit recruitment
- Asynchronous motor unit recruitment during submaximal contractions help prevent muscle fatigue
How does the tension developed by each contracting muscle fibre determine graduation of muscle tension?
Depends on:
- Frequency of stimulation and summation of contractions (see below)
- Length of muscle fibre at the onset of contraction
- Thickness of muscle fibre
What is a twitch?
If the skeletal muscle is stimulated once, a single contraction called a twitch is produced
A single twitch produces little tension and is not useful in bringing about meaningful skeletal muscle activity
What is tetanus?
- If a muscle fibre is stimulated so rapidly that it does not have an opportunity to relaxed at all between stimuli, a maximal sustained contraction (tetanus) occurs
- Cardiac muscle cannot be tetanised - prevented by the long refractory period of cardiac muscle
What is isotonic contraction?
- muscle tension remains constant as the muscle length changes
- Used for body movements and moving objects
What is isometric contraction?
- muscle tension develops at constant muscle length
- Used for supporting objects in fixed positions and maintaining body posture
Describe type I skeletal muscle fibres.
(aka slow-twitch fibres) are used mainly for prolonged relatively low work aerobic activities e.g. maintenance of posture, walking
Describe type IIa skeletal muscle fibres.
(aka intermediate-twitch fibres) use both aerobic and anaerobic metabolism and are useful in prolonged relatively moderate work activities e.g. jogging
Describe type IIb skeletal muscle fibres
(aka fast-twitch fibres) use anaerobic metabolism and are mainly used for short-term high intensity activities e.g. jumping
What are the metabolic pathways that supply ATP in muscle fibres?
- Transfer of a high-energy phosphage from creatine phosphate to ADP - immediate source of ATP
- Oxidative phosphorylation - main source when O2 present
- Glycolysis - main source when O2 not present
Explain the stretch reflex.
- The stretch reflex is the simplest monosynaptic spinal reflex
- It serves as a negative feedback mechanism that resists passive change in muscle length to maintain optimal resting length of muscle
- Helps to maintain posture e.g. while walking
- The sensory receptor is the muscle spindle and is activated by muscle stretch
- Stretching the muscle spindle increases firing in the afferent neurons
- The afferent neurons synapse in the spinal cord with the alpha motor neurons (efferent limb of the stretch reflex) that innervate the stretched muscle
- Activation of the reflex results in contraction of the stretched muscle
How can a stretch reflex be tested?
- It can be elicited by tapping the muscle tendon with a rubber hammer
- This rapidly stretches the muscle (e.g. quadriceps femoris in knee jerk) → contraction
What are muscle spindles?
a collection of specialised muscle fibres which act as sensory receptors for the stretch reflex
Where are muscle spindles found?
- Muscle spindles are found within the belly of muscles and run parallel to ordinary muscle fibres
What is the muscles spindles nerve supply?
- Muscle spindles have their own efferent (motor) nerve supply
- The efferent neurons that supply muscle spindles are called 𝛾-motor neurons
- The 𝛾-motor neurons adjust the level of tension in the muscle spindles to maintain their sensitivity when the muscle shortens during contraction
What are the functions of joints?
- Structural support
- Purposeful movement
- Stress distribution
- Confer stability - shape of articular component, ligaments, synovial fluid (acts as an adhesive seal)
- Joint lubrication - cartilage interstitial fluid, synovium-derived hyaluronic acid (mucin - polymer of dissacharides), synovium-derived lubricin (glycoprotein)
What are the different types of joints?
- Synovial (diarthrosis)
-
Fibrous (synarthrosis): bones united by fibrous tissue, doesn’t usually allow any movement
- Examples are the bones of the skull in adults
-
Cartilaginous (amphiarthrosis): bones united by cartilage, allow limited movement
- Examples are the IV discs, pubic symphysis, part of the sacroiliac joints, costochondral joins
Describe synovial joints?
Bones are separated by a cavity (containing synovial fluid) and united by a capsule (and other extra-articular structures e.g. ligaments, tendons and bursae)
What is the synovial membrane?
lines the inner aspect of the fibrous capsule
Contains synovial cells (fibroblasts) which produces the synovial fluid