Support and Movement (3) Flashcards
Muscle types
Smooth, skeletal, cardiac
Smooth muscle
- Found within walls of the gastrointestinal tract, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, the urinary bladder, uterus, male and female reproductive tracts, respiratory tract, skin and the iris (eye)
- Non-striated
Cardiac muscle
Found only in the contractile walls of the heart
From SA node, cardiac muscle cells are interconnected by intercalated discs, allow electrical signal to pass from one cell to another. Helps synchronise heart muscle contraction
Uni-nucleate (one nucleus per cell)
Skeletal muscle
- Striated
- Made up of sarcomeres
- Muscle attaches to bone via connective tissue (tendon) and produces movement around joints
- Muscle cells are long, so also called muscle fibres
- Multinucleated (fuse multiple muscle cells into muscle fibres)
- Multiple nuclei direct protein synthesis and repair of the cell faster - Controlled by somatic nervous system (consciously influenced)
Properties of skeletal muscles
Contractility: Ability to shorten and thicken, and develop tension
Extensibility: Ability to be stretched without damage
Excitability: Ability to respond to appropriate stimuli
Elasticity: Ability to store some energy, and recoil to the resting length
Microstructure of muscle
Muscle (surrounded by Epimysium connective tissue), fascicles (surrounded by Perimysium connective tissue), muscle fibres (surrounded by Endomysium connective tissue, myofibrils, sarcomeres (basic contractile unit of skeletal muscle). Connective tissue dispersed throughout the muscle.
Sarcomeres - contractile filaments
- Myosin thick filaments (anchor at M line in the centre of the sarcomere)
- Actin thin filaments (attach at Z line)
- Elastic filament: Titin - anchors myosin to the Z-line, contributes to passive force in the muscle
Power stroke
Actin binding sites on Myosin heads form cross bridges with actin thin filaments.
Myosin pulls the actin across, shortening the muscle fibre and producing force.
Connection between the nervous system and skeletal muscle: the motor unit
Motor unit = 1 motor neuron, its motor axon and all of the muscle fibres it innervates.
+ Motor units range in:
-Size (number of muscle fibres)
-Contractile properties (speed, fatigability)
This allows graded, sustained and controlled force.
- Excitatory and inhibitory input from descending pathways, spinal interneurons and afferent fibres.
- Many dendrites allow input from multiple sources.
- When sufficient excitatory input to reach firing threshold, an action potential is generated
- Every AP generated in motor neuron generates an AP in the motor units muscle fibres.
- Every AP in the muscles generates a little bit of force.
Muscle force is influenced by…
- Muscle architecture:
- Structure
- Size (muscle volume)
- Physiological cross sectional area (muscle volume/fibre length) - Sarcomere length (the length tension relationship):
- Active force production
- Passive force - Single motor unit:
- Number
- Discharge rate
- Fibre type - Type of contraction
- Isometric
- Concentric
- Eccentric
Muscle shape
The shape of a muscle affects the action of a muscle.
- Circular muscle can close an opening
- Long muscles are better at controlling movement over joints that have a large range of motion.
- Shorter-wider muscles are better at generating larger forces over a smaller joint range of motion
Muscle PSCA
Muscle volume/ Fiber length
Greatest predictor of force.
Sarcomere length (the length tension relationship)
Hill’s mechanical model of the muscle-tendon unit:
+ Contractile component (CC) - muscle fibers, actin and myosin cross bridges
+ Series elastic component (SEC) - intracellular titin, tendon. Gives the muscle elasticity, the tendency of a material to revert to its previous shape after deformation.
+ Parallel elastic component (PEC) - connective tissue - epimysium and perimysium, endomysium and passive cross bridge connections
Sarcomere length (myofilament overlap)
+ Optimal sarcomere operating length (80% - 120% of resting strength)
+ Most muscle force can be produced at this length
+Highest point of tension
Both active (CC) and passive (SEC and PEC) structures contribute to total force.
Single motor unit
1 motor neuron, its motor axon and all of the muscle fibers it innervates.
Force is altered by number and discharge rate of motor units.
-Number of motor units discharging affects the amount of force produced by the muscle.
Amount of excitatory input determines how many motor units discharge.
-Discharge RATE of motor units: Force is influenced by the tyoe of muscle fiber being innervated.
Type I: Slow oxidative motor units. Slow twitch, low force, fatigue resistant. Aerobic resp. Lots mito (uses oxygen to produce ATP). High myoglobin cont.
Type IIa: Fast oxidative motor units. Quicker twitch duration, higher force, less fatigue resistant than TI. Aerobic resp. Lots mito. High myoglobin cont.
Type IIb: Fast glycotic. Fast twitch. High force. Fatigues quickly. Glycolysis - ATP source. Low myoglobin content. Less need for O2.
Henneman’s size principle
Smaller units are recruited first