13.

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF MUSCLE

Muscular tissues can be classified into:

1. Smooth, non-striated on involuntary muscles.

2. cardiac muscle or myocardium.

3. skeletal, striated or voluntary muscles.

Smooth muscle are present in the walls of digestive organs (e.g. esophagus, stomach), urinary bladder,
ureter etc. their movements cannot be controlled by will.

Cardiac muscle occurs in the heart. The movements of these muscle also cannot be controlled by will.

Skeletal muscle is attached to the skeleton. The movement of skeletal muscles can be controlled by will.

Function of skeletal muscles:

1. They give shape, from and appearance to the body.

2. They protect the vital organs of the body.

3. They keep the joints in proper position.

4. They help in venous return and lymphatic drainage.

Structure of a skeletal muscle.: Skeletal muscles are composed of a large number of muscle fibers. Each
muscle fibers has one or more nuclei which lie in the periphery. The cytoplasm of the muscle cell is
called as sarcoplasm.

Myofibrils are very smembrane of the all parallel filaments which lie in the cytoplasm. The membrane of
the muscle fibre is calles as sarcolemma. Each muscle fibre is embedded in a connective tissue called
endomysium. The fibres with in musle are arranged in bundles. Each bundle is each bundles is enclosed
in a sheath called perimysium.

Neuromuscular junction (Myoneural Junction): It is the junction between a nerve ending and the
skeletal muscle. At this site, the nerve loose its myelin sheath and gets expanded. Acetylcholine is stored
in some vescicles present in this expanded portion . motor and plate is the part of the muscle facing the
expanded nerve terminal. The surface of motor end plate is convoluted and it has the enzyme
acetylcholinesterase.

Properties of skeletal muscle:

1. excitability and irritability: It is the property of a muscle to respond to a stimulus. If the response to
occurs in the form of contraction, it is called as contractility.
2. Tonicity:Muscles of a living organism are in partially contracted state ,even at rest.They are never
fully relaxed and they will resist being stretched.The resistance to stretch is called as tonicity.

3.All or none response:When a stimulus is given to a muscle either contracts to the maximum or ii)it
does not contract at all.

When a week stimulus is applied to a muscle,it does not produce any response.But when the stimulus is
gradually increased ,the muscle level.Later,even a greater degree of stimulus does not increase the
degree of contraction.

4.Summation:When a second stimulus is given to a muscle even while it is contracting due to the first
stimulus,the degree of contraction is more.This phenomenon is called as summation.The increased
response is due to stimulation of more and more motor units by repetitive stimuli.

5.Treppe or staircase phenomenon:Stimulation of a muscle at regular short intervals increases the

amplitude of contraction (which go on increasing like the steps of staircase).This occurs due to increased
irritability of the muscle produced by chemical products of the earlier contractions.

6.Tetanus:When a muscle is stimulated repeatedly at a very faster rate,the muscle contracts

maximally.The muscle remains at this maximal state of contraction till i)the stimulus continous or ii) it
gets fatigued.This sustained maximal contraction is called tetanus.

7.Refractory period:It is a period when the muscle looses its excitability.During refractory period ,the
muscle does not respond to any stimulus ,however strong it may be.

8.Isotonic contraction:It is the contraction in which the muscle shortens under constant load.It occurs in
muscles during walking,running or lifting.

9.Isomertic contraction:In this type of contraction,the muscle develops tension but it does not shorten
in length eg.maintaining the posture against gravity.

10.Fatigue:It is a state of reduced excitability and contractility of a muscle. It is produced by rapid and
repeated stimulation of the muscle.Fatigue mat occur due to depletion of energy and accumulation of
metabolites like lactic acid.

PHYSIOLOGY OF MUSCLE CONTRACTION

Events of muscle contraction:

1.During normal resting state of a muscle,the muscle membrane is in a polarised state.This occurs
because:

a)The interior of the muscle cell is negatively charged.It contains a large concentration of K+ IONS.

b)The exterior of the muscle cell is postivively charged.It contains a large concentration of Na+ ions.

2.When a nerve is stimulated, acetylcholine is liberated at the neuromuscalar junction.

3.Acetycholine increases the permeability of the muscle membrane.So Na+ions enter into the cell and
K+ ions come out of the cell.This produces a change in electrical charge.Both the interior and exterior of
the muscle cell become positively charged.Now the membrane becomes depolarized.This depolarisation
produces a muscle contraction.

4.When the muscle contraction is over,acetylcholine is destroyed by the enzyme acetylcholinesterase.

5.Now ,K+ ions move into the cell and Na+ ions out of the cell.This produces repolarisation of the muscle
membrane.Now the muscle is ready for a second contraction.

Energy for muscle contraction: Actin and myosin are the two important muscle proteins. They form the
contractile elements of a muscle. Muscle contraction is produced by the contraction of actin filaments
over the stationary myosin filaments. The energy for muscle contraction is provided as follows:

1. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is broken down by the enzyme ATPase . Th librates adenosine
diphosphate (ADP)and also phosphate bond energy which is utilized for muscle contraction.

ATP ATP ase ADP+Phosphate bond energy

2. ATP is regenerated again by the reaction between phospocreatinine and ADP.

Phospocreatinine +ADP - creatine +ATP

3. Regeneration of phospocreatinine occure by the combination of creatinine and phosphate energy

which is formed in the conversion of glycogen to lactic acid.

Glycogen – Glucose phosphate – Lactic acid

Creatinine ter re+ Posphate (librated from the above ractio)- Creatinine phosphate

All these three reaction occur in the muscle. These reatction do not require oxygen.

About one fifth of the Lactic acid produced from glycogen isoxidised to carbondioxide and water . The
remaining is converted to glycogen and stored in liver, muscles and other tissue.

Oxygen debt: the reaction leading to 1) the break down of ATP 2) regenartion of ATP and 3) break down
of glycogen to form acid do not require oxygen. But the oxidation of lactic acid to carbondioxide and
water quires oxygen.

During very severe exercise, energy is supplied by the breakdown of ATP. Also, ATP is continuously
regenerated. But lactic acid accumulates faster. For metabolizing this, more and extra oxygen is
required. The extra requirement of oxygen is called oxygen debt. So the oxygen consumption after a
severe exercise is much higher.

Heat production: heat production during muscle contraction. Heat produced by muscle is of two types:
1. Contraction Heat: during isometic contraction of a muscle, no work is performed. so the energy of
chemical reaction appeared as heat. The contraction heat is generated in the absence of oxygen .

2. Recovery Heat: this occurs after contraction and relaxation is over. It occurs due to the oxidation of
lactic acid recovery heat is produced only in presence only in presence of oxygen.