Set 5 (Part I) Flashcards
How is skeletal muscle attached to bones?
By tendons
Differentiate flexor and extensor muscles.
- Flexor: brings bones together
- Extensor: moves bones away
What are antagonistic muscle groups?
Flexor-extensor pairs
What are the characteristics of skeletal muscle?
- Striations
- Multinucleations
- Fibers arranged in sarcomeres
What is the epimysium?
Coarse sheath covering the muscle as a whole (connective tissue)
What is the perimysium?
Tough connective tissue binding fascicles together
What is the endomysium?
Connective tissue membrane that covers skeletal muscle fibers
What are thick filaments? What are thin filaments?
- Thick: myosin
- Thin: actin
What is each muscle fiber made of?
Many cells fused into fibers
What is the sarcolemma?
Plasma membrane of muscle fibers
What is the sarcoplasmic reticulum?
A type of smooth endoplasmic reticulum
What structure plays a role in Ca2+ regulation during contraction?
Sarcoplasmic reticulum
What is the structure of the T-tubules? How are they formed?
- Extend across the cell
- Formed from the inward extension of the sarcolemma
What is the chief function of T-tubules? What is it required for?
- Allow electrical signals traveling along the sarcolemma to move deeper into the cell (moves FASTER)
- Required for contraction
What is the triad of skeletal muscle tissue?
- One T-tubule
- Two flanking terminal cisternae (sarcoplasmic reticulum) surrounding the T-tubule
What allows a signal traveling along the T-tubule to stimulate adjacent membranes on the SR?
The triad of skeletal muscle tissue
Why do muscle fibers contain many mitochondria and several nuclei?
As they require a lot of ATP
What is a sarcomere?
- Contractile unit of fibers
- Segment of myofibril between two successive Z lines
Each myofibril consists of many ___________
sarcomeres
What is the contractile unit of muscle?
Sarcomere
What separates one sarcomere from the next and serves as an anchor for the myofibrils?
Z-disc
Which element is where the thick and thin filaments overlap? How does it appear?
- The A-band
- Dark (dense region due to overlapping)
What stimulates a skeletal muscle?
Motor neuron
What stimulates smooth muscle?
Endocrine or paracrine signal
_________ are a continuation of the sarcolemma, and are functionally linked to the sarcoplasmic reticulum
T-tubules
What are the four different kinds of protein molecules that make up myofilaments?
- Myosin
- Actin
- Tropomyosin
- Troponin
Which filaments do not attach to the Z-lines?
- Myosin does NOT attach
- Only actin
Which protein molecule makes up almost all the thick filament?
Myosin
Which protein molecule makes up the bulk of the thin filament?
Actin
What is the overall function of tropomyosin?
Protein that blocks the active sites on actin molecules
What is the overall function of troponin?
Protein that holds tropomyosin molecules in place
What kind of signal is released at a neuromuscular junction?
Acetylcholine
What is the neuromuscular junction?
- Motor neurons connect to the sarcolemma at the motor endplate
- Synapse where neurotransmitter molecules transmit signals
The distal end of the motor neuron forms a _______ with the muscle fiber, and makes contact with the sarcolemma
synapse
Where the motor neuron makes contact with the muscle fiber is called what?
Motor endplate
What does the motor neuron release? What does it cause?
- Releases acetylcholine
- Binds to receptors on the muscle fiber and depolarizes the cytoplasmic membrane (sarcoplasm)
How does action potential travel deep to reach into the muscle fiber and begin contraction?
Traveling down T-tubules
What does the voltage-changed brought by T-tubules trigger?
- Triggers the opening of the voltage-gated Ca2+ channels
- Allows passive diffusion of the Ca2+ out of the SR, where it triggers the contraction process
What initiates a muscle action potential?
Net entry of Na+ through Ach
What does the action potential in T-tubule alter?
The conformation of the DHP receptor
When the DHP receptor has an altered conformation, what does it do?
- Opens RyR Ca2+ release channels in sarcoplasmic reticulum
- Ca2+ enters the cytoplasm
When do myosin cross-bridges form?
When the myosin heads of thick filaments bind to actin in the thin filaments
A Z disk runs through the middle of every _ band, so each half of an _ band belongs to a different sarcomere.
I
Which zone is occupied by thick filaments only? It is found in the center of which band?
- H-zone
- A-band
Which band is occupied solely by thin filaments?
I band
Which band represents proteins that form the attachment site for thick filaments
M-line
Which band serves as attachment sites for thin filaments?
Z-disc
The __ line divides the A band in half
M
What proteins assures the proper alignment of filaments within a sarcomere?
Titin and nebulin
Where is a titin molecule positioned within the organization of the sarcomere?
One Z disc to the neighboring M line
What is the primary function of titin?
- Stabilizes MYOSIN
- Its elasticity returns stretched muscles to their resting length
Where is nebulin positioned within the organization of the sarcomere? What is its overall function?
- Lies alongside thin filaments and attaches to the Z disk
- Nebulin helps align the ACTIN filaments of the sarcomere
What are the three anatomical elements of a neuromuscular junction?
- One somatic motor neuron
- Synpatic cleft
- Motor end plate on the muscle fiber