Skeletal Muscle Flashcards
sarcomere
individual contractile units of skeletal muscle
thin filament
actin which gets pulled during contraction
thick filament
myosin which pulls the muscle fibre to initiate contraction
Neuromuscular Junction
the junction where the nerve is meeting the muscle between the actual presynaptic terminal and muscle fibers
- not an actual synapse
what is the other name for NMJ?
motor end plate
Myelin sheath
coats the nerves as it helps with the conductance of electrical signals
schwann cells
a type of glial cells which sorrounds a neuron (forms a myelin sheath), and is mostly responsible in the metabolic processes
Junctional folds
increases the surface membrane of the sarcolemma and for the of acetylcholine (the area is densely pack with acetylcholine and ach receptors)
agonist
a drug or substance (nicotine) that will stimulate more functions
antagonist
a substance that is able to block functions of another substance
Myasthenia Gravis
a chronic immune diseases, a neuromuscular diseases which cause weakness in the skeletal muscle
Occupancy
how much acetylcholine has been released and is bound to the receptor itself
Sarcoplasmic Reticulum
- encloses all the individual myofibrils which also contains connections to itself
- Calcium storage
Why does the sarcomere have striped pattern?
it contains intercalated thin and thick filaments which are contractile proteins
What does the body mass mostly contained?
skeletal muscles
Sarcolemma
an outer membrane which encapsulates the myofibril
When does a triad occurs?
occurs when we have the terminal cristernae of an Sr and a T-tubule
- triad is important for regulation of excitation-contraction coupling
What is the function of a serca pump?
it uses ATP to move calcium from the cytoplasmic space up to the SR itself
myosin complex
part of thick filament (long arms and flexible heads)
actin helix
thin filament (made up of globular proteins)
Tropomyosin
wraps around the actin filament which acts as a stabiliser
What is rigor mortis?
the stiffening of the body muscles due to the chemical changes in the myofibrils (this occurs due to the lack of ATP)
Fast fibres
- are big in diameter and have a large cross sectional area
- they produce lots of energy and stores them (energy ready for used) because they are slow at producing energy