Skeletal Muscles Flashcards
What is the primary function of all muscle?
To generate force and/or movement in response to a physiological stimulus
-Body movement
-Maintenance of posture
-Respiration
-Production of body heat
-Communication
-Constriction of organs and vessels
-heartbeat
-In all muscle types the generaction of force depends on the conversing of chemical energy (ATP)
Explain the placement and movement of skeletal muscle
Describe thin filaments (actin) and the function of tropomyosin
-White dots are myosin binding sites where thick filament can grab onto thin filament to generate force
-In resting state, tropomyosin sits over top of myosin binding sites
What is the troponin complex?
Describe the structure of thick filaments (myosin)
What are the additional proteins in a sarcomere and their functions?
Describe the structure of a sarcomere in terms of zones and bands
What is the sliding filament model?
What are the brain regions involved in voluntary movement?
Primary motor cortex:
-basal ganglia
-premotor cortex (motor association)
-thalamus
-cerebellum
-midbrain
What are the steps to initiate skeletal muscle contraction?
What are the events in the CNS that initiate skeletal muscle contraction?
Descending lateral corticospinal pathway
-Corticospinal tract: descending tract (ventral and interior lateral white matter)
-Upper motor neuron: brain to brainstem or spinal cord
-Alpha (lower) motor neuron: spinal cord (or brainstem) to muscle (efferent neurons)
Describe the alpha (lower) motor neuron
-From spinal cord or brainstem to muscle
-A single motor neuron and all the muscle fibres it innervates is known as a MOTOR UNIT
-One muscle fiber will only contact one motor neuron but motor neurons can interact with many muscle fibers
-The area where the motor neuron makes synaptic contact with the muscle fibre is known as the NEUROMUSCULAR JUNCTION
Describe neuromuscular junction and explain the synaptic process
-Region of sarcolemma at the neuromuscular junction is referred to as the motor end plate
-Junctional folds on sarcolemma increase surface area
-Motor neuron vesicles contain acetylcholine
-Muscle sarcolemma contains nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
Explain how nicotinic acetylcholine receptors function
Describe excitatory end-plate potential
-Happens in middle of muscle fibre, moves outward
What are the functions of T-tubules, SR and terminal cisternae?
Explain the steps of muscle action potential and excitation-contraction coupling
The process by which electrical excitation of the surface membrane triggers an increas of Ca2+ in muscle
How does the increase in calcium trigger contraction?
-Ca2+ binds low affinity sites on troponin C (TnC) which induces a conformational change in the troponin complex
-Causes the troponin complex as well as tropomyosin to move revealing the binding site on the actin
Explain tight binding in the rigor state
How does the muscle terminate contraction?