Session 7 - Muscles Flashcards
Define Myalgia, Myasthenia, Myocardium, Myopathy and Myoclonus
Myalgia - Muscle pain
Myasthenia - Muscle weakness
Myocardium - Muscular component of the heart
Myopathy - Any disease of the muscles
Myoclonus - A sudden spasm of the muscles
Explain the muscle hierarchy
1) Striated Muscles:
- Skeletal Muscle:
- Myoglobin, voluntary contraction (Direct nerve-muscle communication)
- Cardiac Muscle:
- Myoglobin, Involuntary contraction (indirect nerve-muscle communication)
2) Non-striated Muscle:
- Smooth muscle:
- No Myoglobin, Involuntary control (No direct nerve muscle communication)
What is an indication of striated muscle death (muscle necrosis) and what problems can this cause?
When striated muscles die myoglobin is released into the bloodstream (myoglobinaemia) and then into the urine (myoglobinuria).
This removal by the kidney can cause renal damage and produces tea-coloured urine.
Define a sarcolemma, sarcoplasm, sarcosome, sarcomere, sarcoplasmic reticulum
Sarcolemma: the outer membrane of a muscle cell
Sarcoplasm: Cytoplasm of a muscle cell
Sarcosome: The mitochondrion
Sarcomere: The contraction unit in striated muscle
Sarcoplasmic reticulum: The smooth ER of a muscle cell
What are the different connective tissue layer in a muscle?
Endomysium - between muscle fibres
Perimysium - wrapping around fascicles
Epimysium - Surrounds the whole muscle
In the tongue what are the roles of the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles?
N.B. This is just for the tongue and the definitions don’t strand true for the rest of the body
Extrinsic - muscles protrude the tongue, retract it and move it from side to side.
Intrinsic - muscles within the tongue that are not attached to bone. They allow the tongue to change shape but not change position - these aid swallowing
What can be seen when looking at a transverse section of skeletal muscle?
- Striations formed by lined up sarcomeres (A, Dark, and I, light, bands)
- Each muscle is surrounded by thin connective tissue (containing nerves and capillaries)
- Dark longitudinal streaks are mitochondria
- Peripheral nucleii
Why may some sections of the striation (sarcolemma’s) not lie up?
This allows the muscle fibre (cell) to contract to different degrees
What are the different zones in a sarcomere?
A Band - Dark band, Myosin fibre (both single and overlapped with actin) I band - Just actin fibres Z line - Binding point of actin fibres M line - Binding point of Myosin fibres H zone - Myosin fibres only
What is a sarcomere defines as?
The single contracting unit in striated muscle. The repeating unit between two Z lines
What 3 muscle fibre types are there how do they appear and why?
- Slow twitch fibre - Type 1 - Slow Oxidative, high mitochondria, myoglobin and cytochromes (gives red colour)
- Intermediate - Type 2a - Fast oxidative and glycolytic (anaerobic) - many to high mitochondria, high myoglobin and cytochromes (gives red to pink colour)
- Fast - Type 2b - Fast glycolytic (anaerobic), poor capillary supply, anaerobic, low myoglobin, mitochondria, cytochromes (gives white/pale colour)
When looking at the histology of cardiac muscle fibres what are the key identifying features?
- Striations
- Centrally positioned nuclei (1 or 2)
- Intercalating disks (allows for electrical and mechanical coupling made up of mainly gap junctions)
- Branching
What are ANP and BNP
ANP - Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (Atrium)
BNP - Brain-Type Natriuretic Peptide (Ventricle)
These are released by the heart during heart failure. They reduce the arterial blood pressure by vasodilation and Na+ excretion which reduces blood volume (water excreted along with Na+)
how does the heart get larger if after puberty hyperplasia stops?
Tissue gets larger via hypertrophy which is the enlargement of cells. But not by hyperplasia (the multiplication of cells)
What are purkinje fibres?
Specialised conducting cells that conduct the cardia action potential faster and more efficiently than cardiomyocytes. This enables the contraction of the atria or ventricles to occur in a synchronous manner. They have extensive gap junctions
Describe the conducting system of the heart
1) sinoatrial (SA) node sends an action potential along Brachman’s Bundles which stimulate the contraction of the atria. The potential is stopped from traversing to the ventricles through a layer of collagen bundles.
2) Atrioventricular (AV) node is stimulated and repeats the signal down the bundle of His to the apex of the heart where it passes down the right and left purkinje bundles to innervate the ventricles
Bullet point the differences and similarities between cardiac and skeletal muscle
Both: - Striated - Similar contractile units Differences: - Cardiac cells have centrally orientated nuclei whereas skeletal are peripheral - Cardiac muscle cells are branched - Cardiac muscle have intercalated disks - Few/no T tubules in SR - 1 contractile cell type - Sarcomere not so developed
Outline some of the key features of smooth muscle cells
- Spindle shaped (fusiform) with a single central nucleus
- Not striated, No T-tubules
- Different form of actin and myosin interactions
- Slower, more sustained (hours to days) contraction, less ATP requires
- Responds to nervous, hormonal, drug or local blood gases
- Caveolae, small cave- like invaginations used to sample the external environment and initiate contraction