The Muscular

System
Module 9_3
 Figure 7.1

Overview of the Muscular System

Functions of the Muscular System
1. Body movement (Skeletal Muscle)
2. Maintenance of posture (Skeletal Muscle)
3. Respiration (Skeletal Muscle)
4. Production of body heat (Skeletal Muscle)
5. Communication (Skeletal Muscle)
6. Constriction of organs and vessels (Smooth Muscle)
7. Heartbeat (Cardiac Muscle)
General Properties of Muscle Tissue

1. Contractility: the ability to shorten forcibly

2. Excitability: the ability to receive and respond to stimuli
3. Extensibility: the ability to be stretched or extended
4. Elasticity: the ability to recoil and resume the original resting
length
 Types of Muscle Tissue

• The three types of muscle tissue are skeletal, smooth, and

cardiac
• These types differ in
• Structure
• Location
• Function
• Means of activation
• Each muscle is a discrete organ composed of muscle tissue,
blood vessels, nerve fibers, and connective tissue
 Types of Muscle Tissue
• Skeletal muscles are responsible for most body movements
• Maintain posture, stabilize joints, and generate heat
• Smooth muscle is found in the walls of hollow organs and tubes,
and moves substances through them
• Helps maintain blood pressure
• Squeezes or propels substances (i.e., food, feces) through organs
• Cardiac muscle is found in the heart and pumps blood throughout
the body
Anatomy of a muscle
 Skeletal Muscle Structure
• Muscular Fascia is a general term for connective tissue
sheets
• The three muscular fascia, which separate and
compartmentalize individual muscles or groups of muscles
are:
• Epimysium: an overcoat of dense collagenous
connective tissue that surrounds the entire muscle
• Perimysium: fibrous connective tissue that surrounds
groups of muscle fibers called fascicles (bundles)
• Endomysium: fine sheath of connective tissue
composed of reticular fibers surrounding each muscle
fiber
• The connective tissue of
muscle provides a
pathway for blood vessels
and nerves to reach
muscle fibers
• The connective tissue of
muscle blends with
other connective tissue
based structures, such
as tendons, which
connect muscle to bone
 Skeletal Muscle Structure
Muscle Fibers
• Terminology
• Sarcolemma: muscle cell plasma membrane
• Sarcoplasm: cytoplasm of a muscle cell
• Myo, mys, and sarco: prefixes used to refer to muscle
• Muscle contraction depends on two kinds of myofilaments:
actin and myosin
• Myofibrils are densely packed, rod-like contractile elements
• They make up most of the muscle volume
Figure 7.3
• Actin (thin) myofilaments consist of two helical polymer
strands of F actin (composed of G actin), tropomyosin,
and troponin
• The G actin contains the active sites to which myosin
heads attach during contraction
• Tropomyosin and troponin are regulatory subunits bound
to actin
• Myosin (thick) myofilaments consist of myosin molecules
• Each myosin molecule has
• A head with an ATPase, which breaks down ATP
• A hinge region, which enables the head to move
• A rod
• A cross-bridge is formed when a myosin head binds to the active
site on G actin
Sarcomeres
• The smallest contractile unit of a muscle
• Sarcomeres are bound by Z disks that hold actin myofilaments
• Six actin myofilaments surround a myosin myofilament
• Myofibrils appear striated because of A bands and I bands
• Thick filaments (Myosin): extend the
entire length of an A band
• Thin filaments (Actin): extend across
the I band and partway into the A band
• Z-disc: a coin-shaped sheet of proteins
(connectins) that anchors the thin
filaments and connects myofibrils to
one another
• Thin filaments do not overlap thick
filaments in the lighter H zone
• M lines appear darker due to the
presence of the protein desmin
• The arrangement of myofibrils within a
fiber is so organized a perfectly aligned
repeating series of dark A bands and
light I bands is evident
 Figure 7.8
Skeletal Muscle Contraction