Musculoskeletal System

The muscular system is the body's network of tissues for both conscious and
unconscious movement. Movement is generated through the contraction and
relaxation of specific muscles. Some muscles, like those in the arms and legs,
are involved in voluntary movements such as raising a hand or flexing the foot.
Other muscles are involuntary and function without conscious effort. Voluntary
muscles include skeletal muscles and total about 650 in the whole human body.
Skeletal muscles are controlled by the somatic nervous system; whereas the
autonomic nervous system controls involuntary muscles. Involuntary muscles
include muscles that line internal organs. These smooth muscles are called
visceral muscles, and they perform tasks not generally associated with
voluntary activity throughout the body even when it is asleep. Smooth muscles
control several automatic physiological responses such as pupil constriction
when iris muscles contract in bright light and blood vessel dilation when smooth
muscles around them relax, or lengthen. In addition to skeletal and smooth
muscle which are considered voluntary and involuntary, respectively, cardiac
muscle exists which is considered neither. Cardiac muscle is not under
conscious control, and it can also function without external nervous system
regulation.
Smooth muscles derive their name from their appearance when viewed in
polarized light microscopy; in contrast to cardiac and skeletal muscles which
have striations (appearance of parallel bands or lines), smooth muscle is
unstriated. Striations result from the pattern of the myofilaments, actin and
myosin, which line the myofibrils within each muscle cell. When many
myofilaments align along the length of a muscle cell, light and dark regions
create the striated appearance. This microscopic view of muscle reveals some
hint of how muscles alter their shape to induce movement. Because muscle cells
tend to be elongated, they are often called muscle fibers. Muscle cells are
distinct from other cells in the body in shape, protein composition, and in the
fact that they are multi-nucleated (have more than one nucleus per cell).
Skeletal muscles are probably the must familiar type of muscle to people.
Skeletal muscles are the ones that ache when someone goes for that first
outdoor run in the spring after not running much during the winter. And skeletal
muscles are heavily used when someone carries in the grocery
bags. Exercise may increase muscle fiber size, but muscle fiber number
generally remains constant. Skeletal muscles take up about 40% of the body's
mass, or weight. They also use a great deal of oxygen and nutrients from the
blood supply. Multiple levels of skeletal muscle tissue receive their own blood
supplies.
Like all muscles, skeletal muscles can be studied at both a macroscopic and a
microscopic level. At the macroscopic level, skeletal muscles usually originate at
one point of attachment to a tendon and terminate at another tendon at the
other end of an adjoining bone. Tendons are rich in the protein collagen which is
arranged in a wavy way so that it can stretch out and provide additional length
at the muscular-bone junction.
Skeletal muscles act in pairs where the flexing (shortening) of one muscle is
balanced by a lengthening (relaxation) of its paired muscle or a group of
muscles. These antagonistic (opposite) muscles can open and close joints such
as the elbow or knee. Muscles which contract and cause a joint to close are
called flexor muscles, and those which contract to cause a joint to stretch out
are called extensors. Skeletal muscle which support the skull, backbone, and rib
cage are called axial skeletal muscles; whereas, skeletal muscles of the limbs
are called distal. These muscles attach to bones via strong, thick connective
tissue called tendons. Several skeletal muscles work in a highly coordinated
manner in activities such as locomotion, walking.
Skeletal muscles are organized into extrafusal and intrafusal fibers. Extrafusal
fibers are the strong, outer layers of muscle. This type of muscle fiber is the
most common. Intrafusal fibers which make up the central region of the muscle
are weaker than extrafusal fibers. Skeletal muscles fibers are additionally
characterized as "fast" or "slow" based on their activity patterns. Fast, also
called "white," muscle fibers contract rapidly, have poor blood supply, operate
anaerobically, and fatigue rapidly. Slow, also called "red," muscle fibers contract
more slowly, have better blood supplies, operate aerobically, and do not fatigue
as easily. Slow muscle fibers are used in movements which are sustained such
as maintaining posture.
Skeletal muscles are enclosed in a dense sheath of connective tissue called the
epimysium. Within the epimysium, muscles are sectioned into columns of
muscle fiber bundles, called primary bundles or fasciculi, which are each
covered by connective tissue called the perimysium. An average skeletal muscle
may have 20 - 40 fasciculi which are further subdivided into several muscle
fibers. Each muscle fiber (cell) is covered by connective tissue called
endomysium. Both the epimysium and the perimysium contain blood and lymph
vessels to supply the muscle with nutrients and oxygen and remove waste
products, respectively. The endomysium has an extensive network of capillaries
that supply individual muscle fibers. Individual muscle fibers vary in diameter
from 10-60 micrometers and in length from a few millimeters to about 12 in (30
cm) in the sartorius muscle of the thigh.
Skeletal muscles function as the link between the somatic nervous system and
the skeletal system. One does not move a skeletal muscle for the sake of
moving the muscle unless one is a bodybuilder. Skeletal muscles are used to
carry out instructions from the brain so that someone can accomplish
something. For instance, someone decides that they would like a bite of cake.
Unless the cake will come to the mouth by itself, the person needs to figure out
some way to get that cake to their mouth. The brain tells the muscle to contract
in the forearm allowing it to flex so that the hand is in position to get a forkful
of cake. But the muscle alone cannot support the weight of a fork; it is the
sturdy bones of the forearm that allow the muscles to complete the task of
obtaining the cake. Hence, the skeletal and muscular systems work together as
a lever system with joints acting as a fulcrum to carry out instructions from the
nervous system.
The somatic nervous system controls skeletal muscle movement through motor
neurons. Alpha motor neurons extend from the spinal cord and terminate on
individual muscle fibers. The axon, or signal sending end, of the alpha neurons
branch to innervate multiple muscle fibers. The nerve terminal forms a synapse,
or junction, with the muscle to create a neuromuscular junction. The
neurotransmitter, acetylcholine (Ach) is released from the axon terminal into
the synapse. From the synapse, the Ach binds to receptors on the muscle
surface which triggers events leading to muscle contraction. While alpha motor
neurons innervate extrafusal fibers, intrafusal fibers are innervated by gamma
motor neurons.
Voluntary skeletal muscle movements are initiated by the motor cortex in the
brain. Then signals travel down the spinal cord to the alpha motor neuron to
result in contraction. However, not all movement of skeletal muscles is
voluntary. Certain reflexes occur in response to dangerous stimuli, such as
extreme heat. Reflexive skeletal muscular movement is controlled at the level of
the spinal cord and does not require higher brain initiation. Reflexive
movements are processed at this level to minimize the amount of time
necessary to implement a response.
In addition to motor neuron activity in skeletal muscular activity, a number of
sensory nerves carry information to the brain to regulate muscle tension and
contraction to optimize muscle action. Muscles function at peak performance
when they are not overstretched or overcontracted. Sensory neurons within the
muscle send feedback to the brain with regard to muscle length and state of
contraction.
Cardiac muscles, as is evident from their name, make up the muscular portion
of the heart. While almost all cardiac muscle is confined to the heart, some of
these cells extend for a short distance into cardiac vessels before tapering off
completely. The heart muscle is also called the myocardium. The heart muscle
is responsible for more than two billion beats in a lifetime. The myocardium has
some properties similar to skeletal muscle tissue, but it is also unique. Like
skeletal muscles, myocardium is striated; however, the cardiac muscle fibers
are smaller and shorter than skeletal muscle fibers averaging 5-15 micrometers
in diameter and 20-30 micrometers in length. In addition, cardiac muscles align
lengthwise more than side-by-side compared to skeletal muscle fibers. The
microscopic structure of cardiac muscle is also unique in that these cells are
branched such that they can simultaneously communicate with multiple cardiac
muscle fibers.
Cardiac muscle cells are surrounded by an endomysium like the skeletal muscle
cells. But innervation of autonomic nerves to the heart do not form any special
junction like that found in skeletal muscle. Instead, the branching structure and
extensive interconnectedness of cardiac muscle fibers allows for stimulation of
the heart to spread into neighboring myocardial cells; this does not require the
individual fibers to be stimulated. Although external nervous stimuli can
enhance or diminish cardiac muscle contraction, heart muscles can also contract
spontaneously making them myogenic. Like skeletal muscle cells, cardiac
muscle fibers can increase in size with physical conditioning, but they rarely
increase in number.
Smooth muscle falls into two general categories, visceral smooth muscle and
multi-unit smooth muscle. Visceral smooth muscle fibers line internal organs
such as the intestines, stomach, and uterus. They also facilitate the movement
of substances through tubular areas such as blood vessels and the small
intestines. Multi-unit smooth muscles function in a highly localized way in areas
such as the iris of the eye. Contrary to contractions in visceral smooth muscle,
contractions in multi-unit smooth muscle fibers do not readily spread to
neighboring muscle cells.
Smooth muscle is unstriated with innervations from both sympathetic (flight or
fight) and parasympathetic (more relaxed) nerves of the autonomic nervous
system. Smooth muscle appears unstriated under a polarized light microscope,
because the myofilaments inside are less organized. Smooth muscle fibers
contain actin and myosin myofilaments which are more haphazardly arranged
than they are in skeletal muscles. The sympathetic neurotransmitter, Ach, and
parasympathetic neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, activate this type of muscle
tissue.
The concentric arrangement of some smooth muscle fibers enables them to
control dilation and constriction in the intestines, blood vessels, and other
areas. While innervation of these cells is not individual, excitation from one cell
can spread to adjacent cells through nexuses which join neighbor cells. Smooth
muscle cells have a small diameter of about 5-15 micrometers and are long,
typically 15-500 micrometers. They are also wider in the center than at their
ends. Gap junctions connect small bundles of cells which are, in turn, arranged
in sheets.
Within hollow organs, such as the uterus, smooth muscle cells are arranged into
two layers. The outer layer is usually arranged in a longitudinal fashion
surrounding the inner layer which is arranged in a circular orientation. Many
smooth muscles are regulated by hormones in addition to the neurotransmitters
of the autonomic nervous system. In addition, contraction of some smooth
muscles are myogenic or triggered by stretching as in the uterus and
gastrointestinal tract.
Smooth muscle differs from skeletal and cardiac muscle in its energy utilization
as well. Smooth muscles are not as dependent on oxygen availability as cardiac
and skeletal muscles are. Smooth muscle uses glycolysis to generate much of
its metabolic energy.