S1: Contractile Mechanisms and Energy Sources Flashcards
Which muscles are striated?
- Skeletal muscle is regularly striated
- Cardiac muscle is striated and less regulated
What is a sarcomere?
Distance between two z lines
Name the thin filament in a sarcomere
Actin is the thin filament
Name the thick filament in a sarcomere
Myosin is the thick filament
What is the I band in a sarcomere?
The distance between where myosin ends and the next begins
What is the A band in a sarcomere?
The length of the myosin
What is the H zone?
The gap between actin filaments
What is the light band and dark band?
Light band is where there is only one type of protein present as light can pass through actin (thin filament)
Dark band is where the thin filaments over lap with the thick filament (myosin) and light is unable to pass through
Explain how there is transduction in muscle contraction
The energy put into muscle contraction is chemical but the effect produced is mechanical so there is transduction (change in form of energy)
What is the sliding filament hypothesis?
When the muscle contracts, the overlap increases (dark band) and the thin filaments slide over the thick ones.
What is the organisation of actin in muscle cells?
Actin forms a double helix filament that is stable. It is also surrounded by tropomyosin and has troponin complexes regularly spaced along the actin filament.
What is the organisation of myosin II in muscle cells?
Myosin II forms the thick filament and is constructed from myosin diamers. These form the tail which has a double helix structure and the head where another myosin molecule can join by the tail.
The tail and back part of the head are called ‘heavy chains’ while the front part of the head is associated with ‘light chains’
How does the actin move along the myosin?
The cross bridge cycle
Explain the crossbridge cycle
- When muscle is relaxed, the myosin is in the ‘rigor state’ attached to the actin filament but there is no movement
- To initiate movement, ATP is added to the myosin head and this detaches the myosin head from the actin
- The ATP then undergoes hydrolysis and the energy released is used to tilt the myosin head back
- When the phosphate is released, the myosin binds to another subunit on the actin further up
- ADP is then released and this causes a power stroke whereby the myosin head tilts back to the rigor state (rigor conformation) and this causes the actin to slide along the myosin initiating contraction.
What is the ‘rigor state’?
This is when the muscle is relaxed.
The myosin is attached to the actin filament and there is no movement - rigor state
What is added to the myosin head to initiate movement in crossbridge cycle?
ATP
What happens when ATP is added to the myosin head in crossbridge cycle?
The myosin head detaches from actin
ATP undergoes hydrolysis in the crossbridge cycle
What is the energy released used for?
The energy is used to tilt the myosin head back.
When does the myosin head bind to a different subunit on actin (further up)?
When the phosphate is released
What is a power stroke?
When ADP is released, the myosin head tilts back to the rigor state (rigor conformation) and this causes actin to slide along myosin.
What is the common regulator of muscle contraction (what signals the muscle to contract)?
The secondary messenger Ca2+
What blocks the crossbridge cycle from occuring until Ca2+ comes along?
Tropomyosin