Muscle Physiology

BIO 232 2022

Objectives
• Identify the major events of skeletal muscle fibre contraction.
• Describe the energy sources for muscle fibre contraction
• Describe how oxygen debt develops and how a muscle may
become fatigued.
• Distinguish between a twitch and a sustained contraction
• Compare the contraction mechanisms of skeletal and smooth
muscle fibres.
 Microscopic Anatomy of Skeletal Muscle
Thin (actin)
filament Z disc H zone Z disc

Sarcomere
• Thick filaments: A band
• Thin filaments: I band and part A Thick (myosin)
filament
I band A band
Sarcomere
I band M line

band (c) Small part of one myofibril enlarged to show the myofilaments
responsible for the banding pattern. Each sarcomere extends from

• Z disc: anchors the thin filaments one Z disc to the next.

• H zone: region where filaments Sarcomere

do not overlap Z disc M line Z disc

Thin (actin)
• M line: holds adjacent thick filament
Elastic (titin)
filaments together filaments
Thick
(myosin)
filament

(d) Enlargement of one sarcomere (sectioned lengthwise). Notice the

myosin heads on the thick filaments.
 Ultrastructure of Myofilaments: Thick Filaments

Actin-binding sites

ATP- binding site

• Each thick filament
consists of many myosin
molecules whose heads
protrude at opposite
ends of the filament.
• Heads – two smaller,
light polypeptide
chains called cross
bridges

Figure 9.3a, b
 Ultrastructure of Myofilaments: Thin Filaments

• A thin filament consists of two strands of actin subunits

twisted into a helix plus two types of regulatory proteins
(troponin and tropomyosin).
• The subunits contain the active sites to which myosin
heads attach during contraction

Figure 9.3c
 Microscopic Anatomy of Skeletal Muscle
Sarcoplasmic reticulum
 stores Ca2+, surrounding each myofibril, Pairs of terminal cisternae

Sarcolemma
Part of a skeletal
I band A band I band
• Carries electrical current muscle fibre (cell)
Z disc H zone Z disc
and connect to tendons Myofibril M line

• Penetrates the cell’s Sarcolemma

Triad:
interior forming • T tubule
• Terminal cisternae
Transverse (T) tubules Sarcolemma of the SR (2)
(A band–I band junction)
Tubules of the SR
• T- tubules and paired Myofibrils
Mitochondria
terminal cisternae form
triads
 Neuromuscular junction
•The end of a motor
neuron and the motor end
plate of a muscle fibre

•Skeletal muscles must

be stimulated by a nerve
to contract
 The Sliding Filament Theory of Muscle
Contraction
• In the relaxed state, thin and
thick filaments overlap only
slightly
• During contraction, myosin
heads bind to actin, detach, and
bind again, to propel the thin
filaments toward the M line
• As H zones shorten and
disappear, sarcomeres shorten,
muscle cells shorten, and the
whole muscle shortens
 Stimulus for Contraction Action
potential (AP)
Myelinated axon
of motor neuron

1. Action potential arrives at axon terminal Nucleus

Axon terminal of
neuromuscular
junction
of motor neuron.
Sarcolemma of

2. Voltage-gated Ca2+channels open the muscle fibre

and Ca2+ enters the axon terminal.

3. Ca2+ entry causes some synaptic 1
Ca2+ Synaptic vesicle
Ca2+
vesicles to release their contents containing ACh

2 Mitochondrion
(acetylcholine) by exocytosis. Axon terminal
Synaptic
cleft
of motor neuron

Fusing synaptic
4. Acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter, vesicles

Junctional
diffuses across the synaptic cleft and ACh
folds of
sarcolemma
binds to receptors in the sarcolemma.
3 Sarcoplasm of
muscle fibre
5. ACh binding opens ion channels that
allow simultaneous passage of Na+ into Na+ K+ Postsynaptic membrane
ion channel opens;
the muscle fibre and K+ out of the muscle 4 ions pass.

fibre.
6.ACh effects are terminated by its Ach– Degraded ACh
Na+
Postsynaptic membrane
ion channel closed;
enzymatic breakdown in the synaptic cleft 5 ions cannot pass.

by acetylcholinesterase. Acetyl-
cholinesterase
K+
 Stimulus for Contraction

Axon terminal

Open Na+ Closed K+

Channel Channel
Synaptic Na+
cleft

ACh
K+
Na+ K+ ++ +
+ +++
ACh ++ +
+
Action potential
+
Na+ K+
2 Generation and propagation of the
action potential (AP)

1 1 Local depolarization: generation of the

end plate potential on the sarcolemma
Sarcoplasm of muscle fibre
The sliding filament model
1 Action potential is
propagated along the
sarcolemma and down
Steps in the T tubules.
E-C Coupling:
Sarcolemma
Voltage-sensitive T tubule
tubule protein

Ca2+
release
channel 2 Calcium
ions are
Terminal released.
cisterna
of SR

Ca2+
The sliding filament model
Actin
Troponin Tropomyosin
Ca2+ blocking active sites
Myosin
3 Calcium binds to
troponin and removes
the blocking action of
tropomyosin.
Active sites exposed and
ready for myosin binding

Ca2+ Thin filament

Actin

4 Contraction begins
ADP Cross bridge formation.
Myosin Pi
cross bridge
Thick filament

Myosin
The sliding filament model

ADP
Pi

2 The power (working) stroke.

Figure 9.12, step 3

The sliding filament model
ADP

Pi

The power (working) stroke.

ATP

Cross bridge detachment.

The sliding filament model
Energy for Muscle Contraction

 Initially, muscles used stored ATP for

energy
 Only 4-6 seconds worth of ATP is stored by
muscles
 After this initial time, other pathways
must be utilized to produce ATP
 Energy for Muscle Contraction
 Direct phosphorylation
 Muscle cells contain creatine
phosphate (CP)
 After ATP is depleted, ADP is
left
 CP transfers energy to ADP,
to regenerate ATP
 CP supplies are exhausted in
about 20 seconds
Energy for Muscle Contraction
 Aerobic Respiration
 This is a slower reaction
that requires continuous
oxygen
 Energy for Muscle Contraction
 Anaerobic glycolysis
 Pyruvic acid is converted to
lactic acid
 This reaction is not as
efficient, but is fast
 Huge amounts of glucose
are needed
 Lactic acid produces
muscle fatigue
Figure 6.10b Slide 6.26a
Muscle Fatigue and Oxygen Debt
 When a muscle is fatigued, it is unable to
contract
 The common reason for muscle fatigue is
oxygen debt
 Oxygen is required to get rid of accumulated
lactic acid
 Increasing acidity (from lactic acid) and lack
of ATP causes the muscle to contract less
Animations
1. Muscle Contraction Overview Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GneonFlcZG8

2. Skeletal muscle contraction : Muscle physiology Animations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjyM13pe9NA
 Muscular responses
 Muscle fibre contraction is “all or none”
 not all fibres may be stimulated during
the same interval
 Graded responses
 Twitch Response
Twitch
• contractile response of a single
muscle fibre to a muscle impulse
• Not for day-to-day muscle function
but multiple muscle fibre
contraction required
• the degree of tension depends on:
• the frequency at which individual
muscle fibres are stimulated
• how many fibres take part in the
contraction
 Types of Graded Responses
Tetanus (summing of contractions)
 One contraction is immediately followed by another
 The muscle does not completely return to a resting state
 The effects are added
 Unfused (incomplete) tetanus
 Fused (complete) tetanus
 Motor Units
A
B
• A muscle fibre usually
C
has a single motor end
plate D

• one motor neuron may

E
connect to many
muscle fibres
• A motor neuron and the
muscle fibres it controls
constitute a motor unit
• 1= B & E
• 2=A,C & E
 Muscle Response to Strong Stimuli
Recruitment of Motor Units
• force depends upon the number of fibres
stimulated
• can continue to contract unless they run out of
energy (ATP)
Sustained contraction
• Summation and recruitment together produce a
sustained contraction of increasing strength
Muscle Tone

 Some fibres are contracted even in a

relaxed muscle
 under involuntary control
 The more muscle is used the more tone
it becomes.
Types of Muscle Contractions

 Isotonic contractions
 The muscle shortens

 Isometric contractions
 The muscle is unable to shorten
Muscles and Body Movements
Isotonic Contractions Vs Isometric Contractions
 Large Muscle and
number of sarcomere
muscle Large High stretched to
fibres muscle frequency of slightly over 100%
activated fibres stimulation of resting length

Contractile force

Figure 9.21
Smooth Muscle Contraction

• resembles skeletal muscle, both

• reactions of actin and myosin
• Triggered by membrane impulses and an increase in intracellular calcium
ions
• use energy from ATP
• Significant differences
• Two neurotransmitters affect smooth muscle—acetylcholine and
norepinephrine
• hormones stimulating contractions
• slower to contract and to relax
• length without changing tension
Microscopic Structure
• Spindle-shaped fibres: thin and short compared with skeletal muscle
fibres
• Connective tissue: endomysium only
• SR: less developed than in skeletal muscle
• Pouchlike infoldings (caveolae) of sarcolemma sequester Ca2+
• No sarcomeres, myofibrils, or T tubules
Myofilaments in Smooth Muscle
• Ratio of thick to thin filaments (1:13) is much lower than in skeletal
muscle (1:2)
• Thick filaments have heads along their entire length
• No troponin complex; protein calmodulin binds Ca2+
• Myofilaments are spirally arranged, causing smooth muscle to
contract in a corkscrew manner
• Dense bodies: proteins that anchor noncontractile intermediate
filaments to sarcolemma at regular intervals