Skeletal muscle Flashcards
What defines skeletal muscle?
Under voluntary control <> striated <> single long cylindrical cells <> multiple peripheral nuclei
What do muscles connect to?
Tendon to tendon
What defines cardiac muscle?
Located only in the heart <> striated, branched cells with 1-3 central nuclei <> connected by intercalated discs <> involuntary control
What defines smooth muscle?
Found in the wall of internal organs (i.e. gut, blood vessels etc.) <> Involuntary control <> Spindle shaped <> Uninucleated <> Not striated
What makes the muscle striated?
The actin and myosin are in a very parallel structure within the sarcomeres
What is a muscle fibre?
An individual muscle cell
How long and wide can a muscle fibre be?
up to 35cm and 0.1mm
What are the muscle cells composed of? What are they?
Myofibrils <> Highly organised contractile filaments
When there is muscle growth, what is changing?
There are more myofibrils being packed into a muscle cell
What is the structure of a myofibril?
Repeating units of sarcomeres
What is the structure of a sarcomere? Describe each structure
Z disc - coin-shaped sheet of proteins that anchor the thin filament and connect sarcomeres to one another <> H zone - Just the thick filaments <> I band - just the thin filaments <> A band - whole length of thick filaments (includes thin filaments) <> M line - line of protein myosin that holds adjacent thick filaments together
What is the thick and thin filament?
Thick = myosin filament <> Thin = actin filament
What and where are T-tubules?
Deep invagination that are continuous with the sarcolemma in a ring surrounding the sarcomere
What do T-tubuels do?
Connects all the sarcomeres together allowing for the action potential to conduct throughout the entire cell
What is the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR)?
A very specialised endoplasmic reticulum of the sarcomere that store calcium
What is the sarcolemma?
the fine tubular sheath which envelops the fibres of skeletal muscles.
Label the diagram
What is the thick filaments made of and structure?
Myosin which each have two subunits each with a globular head and tail, the tails are intertwined with each other
What do the myosin heads have on them?
Binding sites for actin
What are myosin heads always trying to do?
Bind on to actin (i.e. fin filament)
What is the head made of? What does this do?
ATPase <> Hydrolyses ATP
What action of the myosin causes muscle contraction?
The backwards and forwards movement of the myosin head on the hinge of the myosin filament
What does titin do?
Anchors the thick filament to the Z-discs
What is the primary protein of thin filaments? What alternative name does this give it?
Actin <> None, it can’t be called actin as there are lots of other protein involved
What is the filament structure?
A double stranded helical actin chain
What are troponin and tropomyosin?
Regulatory proteins
The binding sites on the thin filaments have what on them in normal conditions?
Tropomyosin
What does tropomyosin?
Stops myosin from binding onto actin filaments on the thin filament
What does troponin do?
When Ca2+ bonds onto it it cause the tropomyosin to detach from the actin filament exposing it for myosin attachment
During muscle contraction, what band changes and stays the same?
The A band says the same <> The I band is shortened
What causes the I band to get shorter?
The thin filament is pulled over the thick filament
What is the cross-bridge cycle?
The formation of cross-bridges between the myosin heads and actin filament
What are the 4 steps of the cross-bridge cycle?
1 - cross-bridge formation <> 2 - power stroke <> 3 - detachment <> 4 - energisation of myosin head
For cross-bridge formation what must there be?
A high amount of calcium available
When can cross-bridges only form?
When the myosin binding site on the actin is exposed
What happens during cross-bridge formation?
Myosin binds to the actin bindi site forming a cross bridge
Label the diagram
In the cross-bridge formation is in what position relative to the thick filament?
Perpendicular
What breaks down during cross-bridge formation? What is formed?
ATP, forms ADP and inorganic phosphate (Pi)