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Muscles
Muscles
Muscles
DERIVATION OF NAME
Muscles (L Mus = mouse) are so named because, many of them resemble a mouse, with their
tendons representing the tail
Definition
Muscle is a contractile tissue which brings about movements Muscles can be regarded as motors of
the body.
Types of Muscles
The muscles are of three types, skeletal, smooth and cardiac. The
characters of each type are summarized in Table 4.1.
SKELETAL MUSCLES
Synonyms
1. Striped muscles
2. Striated muscles
3. Somatic muscles
4. Voluntary muscles
PARTS OFA MUSCLE
A. Two Ends
1. Origin is one end of the muscle which mostly remains fixed during its contraction.
2. Insertion is the other end which mostly moves during its contraction. In the limb muscles, the
origin is usually proximal to insertion. However, the terms origin and insertion, are at times inter-
changeable, and at other times difficult to define, as in the intercostal Muscles. Muscles of pharynx,
oesophagus, and the diaphragm act as involuntary muscles.
B. Two Parts
1. Fleshy part is contractile, and is called the
'belly'.
2. Fibrous part is noncontractile and inelastic.
When cord-like or rope-like, it is called tendon
(Fig. 4.4); when flattened, it is called
aponeurosis. The tendon receives Golgi
tendon nerve endings.
It is supplied by capillaries extending
from the fleshy part and also from the
periosteal arteries of the bone where the
tendon terminates or gets inserted.
STRUCTURE OF STRIATED MUSCLE
A. Contractile Tissue
Each muscle is composed of numerous muscle
fibres. Each muscle fibre is a multinucleated,
cross-striated cylindrical cell (myocyte) 1-300
mm long. It is made up of sarcolemma (cell
membrane) enclosing sarcoplasm (cytoplasm
Embedded in the sarcoplasm there are (a) several Hundred nuclei arranged at the
periphery beneath the sarcolemma fig. 4.1
(b) a number of evenly distributed longitudinal threads called myofibrils. Each myofibril
shows alternate dark and light bands.
Dark bands are known as A bands (anisotropic) and the light bands as I bands (isotropic).
The bands of adjacent fibril are aligned transversely so that the muscle fibre appears cross-
striated In the middle of dark band there is a light H band. In the middle of I band there is
a dark Z line or Krause's membrane, The segment of myofibril between two Z lines is called
sarcomere Fig. 4.5).
Muscle fasciculi fibres myofibril myofilaments
B. Supporting Tissue
Supporting tissue helps in organization of the muscle. Endomysium surrounds each muscle
fibre separately. Perimysium surrounds bundles (fasciculi or myonemes) of muscle fibres of
various sizes.
Epimysium surrounds the entire muscle. The connective tissue of the muscle becomes
continuous with the tendon (Fig. 4.6).
Table 4.1: Types of muscles
Striated/skeletal muscle Non-striated/smooth muscle Cardiac muscle
1. Striated muscles are Oesophagus (distal part), Wall of heart (Fig. 4.3)
present in the limbs, urogenital tract, urinary bladder, …. ..
tongue, body wall, blood vessels, iris of eye, arrector)
pharynx and beginning pili muscle of hair (Fig. 4.2)
of oesophagus(Fig. 4.1)
8. Nerve supply from somatic Nerve supply from autonomic Nerve supply from
nervous system nervous system autonomic nervous
system
Richest nerve supply is to extraocular muscles as these have small motor units. One nerve
fibre supplies 5-10 muscle fibres.
Muscles used for intramuscular injections are deltoid, gluteus medius and vastus lateralis.
Hybrid/composite muscle is supplied by two different motor nerves with different root
values, e.g. flexor digitorum profundus partly supplied by branch of median nerve and
partly by ulnar nerve. Adductor magnus, pectineus and digastric are other hybrid muscles.
Muscle fibre is supported by endomysium, muscle fasciculus by perimysium and whole
muscle by epimysium.
Contractile unit of the muscle is a sarcomere.