Visceral Muscle

-Involved with various movements of internal organs

such as:

reproductive organs
alimentary canal
Malphigian tubules
pulsatile organs
alary muscles
pheromone glands
labial and salivary glands
2 types of visceral muscle
1. Extrinsic visceral muscle originates on
the integument and inserts on organs
2. Intrinsic visceral muscle occurs in
regular meshes or circular and
longitudinal strands or in irregular
networks surrounding given organs.
contractile material of visceral
muscle
- not grouped into distinct myofibrils but;
- fills all or part of a fiber
- composed of thick and thin filaments:
myosin and actin
Visceral nervous system innervates the
visceral muscles by neurons and
neurosecretory cells.
Neurosecretory cells directly release their
secretion onto the muscles and do not rely
on hemolymph transport system.
The secretions of neurosecretory cells are
released at regions called
neurosecretomotor junctions.

types of muscle transformation
1. Hemimetabulous insects transition is
gradual and muscle sets are already
present in the larval forms.
2. Holometabulous insects most larval
muscle set degenerate with new ones
being formed in adult.
Antherea polyphemus (giant
silkmoth)
Developing adults is housed within both pupal
cuticle and silken cocoon
It has a muscular system composed mainly of
intersegmental muscle located in abdominal
segments 4-6.
These muscles function mainly in assisting adult
eclosion.
After eclosion, these muscles undergo rapid
degeneration or programmed cell death.
Ligation experiments in 1960s
Showed that if the abdomen was tied off
and separated from the head and thorax
prior to adult eclosion, the muscles did not
exhibit rapid degeneration.
On the other hand, muscles in the
abdomens that were ligated and isolated
after adult eclosion degenerated after 30
hours.
Muscle degeneration
under hormonal control.
Two types of muscle degeneration:
1. slow degeneration occurs about 6
days after eclosion.
- activated by the steroid hormone
ecdysone (20-hydroxyecdysone)
2. rapid degeneration occurs within 30
hours following eclosion.
- depends on both ecdysone and
a peptide eclosion hormone.