WHAT IS THE

LARGEST
ORGAN IN THE
BODY?
Muscle Physiology
 Intended Learning Objectives
AFTER THE SESSION YOU SHOULD BE
ABLE TO:
• 1. List the major functions of muscles.
• 2. Describe four major functional
properties of muscles.
• 3. Compare the three different types of
muscles.
• 4. Describe the structure of a whole
muscle and of a muscle fiber.
• 5. Explain how muscle fibers shorten.
• 6. Describe the events that result in
muscle fiber contraction and relaxation in
response to an action potential in a motor
neuron.
• 7. Define a muscle twitch and describe its
three phases.
• 8. Explain how the force of contraction of
a muscle can vary from weak to strong.
• 9. Define the different types of muscle
contractions.
• 10. Describe how the length of a muscle
influences its force of contraction.
• 11. Discuss the causes of fatigue during
exercise.
• 12. Explain how muscle fibers obtain
energy.
• 13. Name and compare the different types
of skeletal muscle fibers.
 What is the
primary function
of muscles?
 Generate force or movement in
response to a physiological stimulus
 Functions of the
Muscular System
1. Heartbeat
2. Maintenance of posture.
3. Respiration.
4. Production of body heat.
5. Communication.
6. Constriction of organs and vessels.
7.Body movement.
PROPERTIES AND TYPES OF MUSCLE
 Contractility

Contractility Excitability

Elasticity Extensibility
 Characteristics of Skeletal Muscle
Fiber
• A skeletal muscle cell (“fiber”) has several defining
characteristics:
– It is multinucleated
– It contains many mitochondria
– It has special structures called transverse tubules (T
tubules)
– It has myofibrils and sarcomeres
– It has specific terms for some of the intracellular
structures:
• Sarcolemma = plasma membrane
• Sarcoplasm = cytoplasm
• Sarcoplasmic reticulum = smooth ER
PHYSIOLOGIC ANATOMY OF
SKELETAL MUSCLE
 Myofibrils
• Basic rod-like unit of a muscle fiber

• Give skeletal and cardiac muscle their characteristic

striated appearance

• Composed of myofilaments:
– Thick filament - myosin
– Thin
• Actin
• Troponin
• Tropomyosin

• May be subdivided longitudinally into sarcomeres

 The Actin Filament

− the I band filament

− tethered at one end at
the Z disc
− 1 mm long

Figure 6-6; Guyton & Hall

• Actin
polymerization is a
reversible process
Treadmilling
The Myosin Molecule:

Regulatory
light chain

Essential
light chain
MOLECULAR ORGANIZATION
Microstructure of Skeletal Muscle
Fiber
 • Nebulin
Additional Proteins
– Helps in the alignment of actin
– Forms a guide that determines
how long the actin filament will
be
• Titin
– Stabilizes myosin by attaching
to Z lines

• Tropomodulin
– At the terminal end of thin
filament
– Binds and caps the minus end
of actin

• a-actinin and capZ

– Anchor thin filament to Z
disk

• Desmin
– Anchors Z disk to sarcolemma
34
Dystrophin-Glycoprotein Complex

STABILIZE THE SARCOLEMMA and hence prevents

contraction-induced injury
Duchenne/Beckers Muscular
Dystrophy
Ultrastructure of Skeletal Muscle
Fiber

Brings action potentials into

interior of muscle fiber
Ultrastructure of Skeletal Muscle
Fiber
Ultrastructure of Skeletal Muscle
Fiber

Translate an action potential from the plasma membrane to the

sarcoplasmic reticulum, effecting calcium flow into the cytoplasm and
the initiation of muscle contraction.
T Tubule and SR Junction
MOLECULAR MECHANISM OF
SKELETAL MUSCLE
CONTRACTION
 Muscle Contraction
• It refers to the activation of the force-
generating sites within muscle fibers -
the cross-bridges

• The term contraction does not

necessarily mean “shortening”
SLIDING FILAMENT MODEL
Ca2+ binding to troponin sets off a series of events resulting in the
movement of myosin heads

CROSS-BRIDGE MOVEMENT
Exposure of Myosin Binding Sites

an increase in [Ca2+]i initiates and allows cross-bridge

cycling to continue
Exposure of Myosin Binding Sites
“Walk-Along” Theory
CLINICAL CORRELATE
Rigor Mortis
Neuromuscular
Junction
 Motor Unit

Motor neuron and

the skeletal muscle
fibers it innervates
Motor Unit Ratios
• Back muscles
– 1:100
• Finger muscles
– 1:10
• Eye muscles
– 1:1
 Soluble NSF
Attachment Protein
REceptor
 Soluble NSF
Attachment
Protein Receptor
CLINICAL CORRELATES
Curare
ORGANOPHOSPHATE
POISONING
http://www.lems.com/what_is_lems
Botulism and Tetanus

Bryne and Roberts, 2004

Botulism
EXCITATION–CONTRACTION
COUPLING
Initiation of Muscle Action
Potential
Excitation-Coupling Reaction
MUSCLE RELAXATION
Relaxation Phase
Removal of Cytosolic Calcium
Ca transported back to
SR

Ca diffuses away from

the troponin molecules

Tropomyosin blocks the

active site on actin
molecules

New cross-bridges
cannot form

Relaxation
 Predict the consequences of having the
following conditions develop in a muscle
in response to a stimulus:
(a) Na+ cannot enter the skeletal muscle
through
voltage-gated Na+ channels
(b) Adequate ATP is present within the
muscle fiber, but
action potentials occur at a frequency so
great that Ca2+ is not transported back
into the sarcoplasmic reticulum between
individual action potentials

BUZZ GROUPS
Contraction and then relaxation of a muscle in response to a stimulus
that causes an action potential in one or more muscle fibers.

MUSCLE TWITCH
From Cross-
AP to bridging
Ca Ca returning to SR and
diffusi muscle lengthening
ng
out of
SR
STRENGTH OF MUSCLE
CONTRACTION
 Maximal
force that a
muscle can
produce.
DETERMINANTS OF STRENGTH
• Cross-sectional area

The strength of a muscle is determined mainly

Increased Cross section of muscle = Increased
by strength
its size
 Multiple-Fiber Summation
• Contraction of a few motor units results in a
weak force, whereas contraction of many
motor units produces a strong force. This
effect is called multiple-fiber summation
because, as more and more (multiple) motor
units muscle fibers) are stimulated, the force
of contraction increases (sums).
 tp://classes.mid
ndstech.edu/ca
erp/Courses/bio
10/chap09/lectu
1.html
 Frequency Summation

• Frequency summation is the increased force

of contraction of muscle fibers resulting from
increased frequency of stimulation
 Increased Steady force Maximal
Single
force of of force of
contraction
contraction contraction contraction
Treppe
Length-Tension and Force-Velocity
Relationships
 Length-tension Relationship
• Muscle can generate greatest tension at its
resting length
• Same thing is true of each individual
sarcomere
• Tension generated proportional to # of cross
bridges that can form
• Number of cross bridges available depends on
overlap of thick and thin filament
Concentric

Eccentric

Downey et.al. 1994

 Kinesiology
• Insertion closer to
the center of
rotation allows a
greater arc but a
lower maximum
force.

Downey et.al. 1994

 Fiber types
• The maximum force generated by a muscle
depends on the relative proportions of type 1
and 2 fibers that make up the muscle.
Type 1 Type 2a Type 2b
 What types of muscle
contractions occur when a
weightlifter lifts a weight
above the head and then holds
it there before lowering it?

BUZZ GROUPS
ENERGY FOR MUSCLE
CONTRACTION
• Olympic 100 meter
dash champion
Usain Bolt
defended his title
for the second
time with a time of
9.63 seconds at
the 2012 London
Olympics
Alactic Anaerobic Source

• “Explosive" Sports:
weightlifting,
jumping, throwing,
100m running, 50m
swimming)
Lactic Anaerobic Source

“Short" intense sports:

gymnastics, 200 to
1000 m running, 100
to 300 m swimming)
 Aerobic Source
“Long" sports;
after 2-4min of exercise)

• Recovery time after a

maximal effort is 24 to 48 hrs
• Carbohydrates (early)
endurance (run)
• Lipids (later) ultra-endurance
and possibly proteins
• The chief fuel utilization
gradually shifts from
carbohydrate to fat
• The key to this adjustment is
hormonal (increase in fat-
mobilizing hormones)
 MUSCLE FATIGUE
• Diminished response
to an unchanging
stimulus
• Requirement of a
larger stimulus to
produce the same
response
 Factors
• Isometric Contraction • Isotonic/Isokinetic
– Local ischemia due to Contraction
decreased circulation – Depletion of
produced by muscle intracellular K and
contraction glycogen
– Increased lactic acid
– Decreased pH and
Calcium from SR
 Second Wind
• Start of exercise =
imbalance between
O2 transport and
metabolic demands in
tissues
• Blood flow matches
metabolic needs
 Stitch
• Lack of O2 in the
intercostal muscles
of the chest or in
the diaphragm.
THANK YOU!
Reference