2ND SEMESTER – MIDTERM

HUMAN HISTOLOGY A. Y. 2022 - 2023

WEEK 7: MUSCLE TISSUE

Functional characteristics of Muscle Tissue

COVERAGE:
I. MUSCLE TISSUE ✓ Excitability / Irritability
✓ Contractility
A. Functional characteristics of Muscle ✓ Extensibility
Tissue ✓ Elasticity

II. HISTOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

A. Skeletal / Striated Muscle

a. Skeletal Muscle Fibers
b. Organizations of a skeletal
muscle
c. Organization within muscle
fibers
➢ Muscle Fiber: Myofibril
➢ Sarcomere
➢ Sliding filaments and
sarcomere shortening
in contraction
➢ Sarcoplasmic reticulum
HISTOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
d. Types of Muscle Fibers
B. Cardiac Muscle Skeletal / Striated Muscle
a. Parts of Cardiac Muscle
b. Purkinje Monocytes Skeletal Muscle Fibers
c. Types of Cardiac Muscle Fiber
C. Smooth Muscle ✓ Striated and Voluntary
a. Location of Smooth Muscles ✓ Consists of muscle fibers
b. Types of Smooth Muscle ✓ Elongated Nuclei found peripherally just under the
sarcolemma
✓ Generally attached to the bone except for intrinsic
muscles of the tongue, upper esophagus and some of
the facial expression muscle
✓ Long cylindrical and multinucleated cells
MUSCLE TISSUE ✓ 10-100 um
✓ Myoblasts
✓ Composed of cells that optimize the universal cell
✓ Muscle Fibers – DO NOT BRANCH
property of contractility.
✓ Cross Section
✓ Characterized by the ability to contract / move upon
• Fibers appear almost equal in sizes
stimulation.
• Nuclei are located at the periphery or
✓ Actin microfilaments and associated proteins
beneath the sarcolemma and may be more
✓ Mesodermal Origin – Actin and Myosin
✓ As with neurons, muscle specialists refer to certain than 2
muscle cell organelles with special names. The
cytoplasm of muscle cells is often called sarcoplasm.
✓ The smooth ER is the sarcoplasmic reticulum, and the
muscle cell membrane and its external lamina are the
sarcolemma.
✓ Functional Classification
• Voluntary
• Involuntary
✓ Structural Classification
• Striated
• Smooth

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Organizations of a skeletal muscle

✓ Epimysium
✓ Fascicle
✓ Muscle Fiber
✓ Endomysium

Myofilaments

✓ Thick Filaments
✓ Thin Filaments

Thick Filaments

✓ Occupy the entire A-band.

✓ Bound to proteins of M line and to the Z disc by a
large protein called titin (with spring-like domains).
✓ Consists of many myosin bundled together along their
rod-like tails with their heads exposed and directed
towards thin filaments.
✓ Bound to proteins of M line and to the Z disc by a
large protein called titin (with spring-like domains).

Thin Filaments

✓ Run between the parallel to the thick filaments and

have one end attached to the Z line/disc.
✓ Composed of F-actin, Tropomyosin, Troponin
Organization within muscle fibers ✓ F-actin
• long filamentous polymers containing two
✓ Longitudinally sectioned skeletal muscle fibers show strands of globular (G-actin) monomers, 5.6
striations of alternating light and dark bands. nm in diameter, twisted around each other in
✓ The Sarcoplasm is highly organized, containing a double helical formation
primarily long cylindrical filament bundles called
myofibrils that run parallel to the long axis of the fiber.
✓ The dark bands on the myofibrils are called A bands
(anisotropic or birefringent in polarized light
microscopy); the light bands are called I bands
(isotropic, do not alter polarized light)
✓ In the TEM, each I band is seen to be bisected by a
dark transverse line, the Z disc.
✓ The repetitive functional subunit of the contractile
apparatus, the sarcomere, extends from Z disc to Z
disc and is about 2.5-μm long in resting muscle.
✓ The A and I banding pattern in sarcomeres is due
mainly to the regular arrangement of thick and thin
myofilaments, composed of myosin and F-actin,
respectively, organized within each myofibril in a ✓ Tropomyosin
symmetric pattern containing thousands of each • assembles to form a long polymer located in
filament type. the groove between the two twisted actin
strands
✓ Troponin

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 • a globular complex of three subunits
• TnT- attaches to tropomyosin
• TnC- binds calcium ions
• TnI- inhibits the actin-myosin interaction
Sarcomere
✓ Structural and functional unit of the skeletal muscle
✓ The segments of myofibrils between successive Z
Lines
✓ Includes and A-band and half of the 2 contiguous I-
bands
✓ H zone - a lighter zone in the A band; consisting only
of the rod-like portions of the myosin molecule with no
thin filaments present.
✓ M line - a line that bisects the H zone; a region where
lateral connections are made between adjacent thick
filaments A bands - (birefringent in polarized light)
✓ I bands - (do not alter polarized light)
✓ Z line - dark transverse line that bisects the I band
Sliding filaments and sarcomere shortening in contraction
✓ Actin filaments slide past the myosin filaments
towards the center of the sarcomere
✓ H zone becomes narrow and may be obliterated
✓ I-band also becomes narrow
✓ A-band remains constant during relaxation and
contraction
Sarcoplasmic reticulum
✓ Corresponds to the endoplasmic reticulum of other
cell types.
✓ Consists of membrane-bound sarcotubules that forms
a canalicular network around each myofibril.
✓ Devoid of ribosomes.
✓ Site of sequestration of calcium during muscle
relaxation and for release into the sarcoplasm of free
calcium ions that trigger contraction in response to a
nerve impulse.
Types of Muscle Fibers
✓ Type I – Slow, Red, Oxidative Fibers
• Many mitochondria; abundant myoglobin
• Oxidative phosphorylation of fatty acids
• For slow, continuous contraction for
prolonged periods such as postural muscles
at the back
✓ Type IIa – Fast, Intermediate Oxidative-Glycolytic
Fibers
• Many mitochondria, myoglobin and glycogen
• Both oxidative and anaerobic glycolysis
• For rapid contraction and short burst of
activity such as in athletes
✓ Type IIb – Fast, White Glycolytic Fibers
• Fibers are specialized for rapid, short term
contraction
• Rapid contractions lead to rapid fatigue as
lactic acid produced by glycolysis
accumulates
• Few mitochondria or capillaries and
depending largely on anaerobic metabolism
of glucose derived from stored glycogen
features that make such fibers appear white
Cardiac Muscle
✓ Striated and involuntary
✓ Thickest layer of the heart, the myocardium
✓ Branching and anastomosing fiber
✓ Generally have single nucleus per cell
• Ovoid nucleus
• nucleus are centrally located unlike the
skeletal muscle
✓ Cross-section show moderate variation in the size of
muscle fibers
Parts of Cardiac Muscle
✓ Intercalated Discs
✓ Desmosomes and Fascia Adherents
✓ Gap Junctions
Longitudinal sections of cardiac muscle at the light
microscope level show nuclei (N) in the center of the muscle
fibers and widely spaced intercalated discs (I) that cross the
fibers. The occasional intercalated discs should not be
confused with the repetitive, much more closely spaced
striations (S), which are similar to those of skeletal muscle but
less well-organized. Nuclei of fibroblasts in endomysium are
also present.
Purkinje Monocytes
✓ Modified cardiac muscle fibers that are specialized for
impulse conduction
✓ Located in the:
• Sinoatrial Node
• Atrioventricular Node
• Internodal tracts and bundle of HIS
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 Types of Smooth Muscle

✓ Visceral Smooth Muscle

✓ Vascular Smooth Muscle
✓ Smooth muscle of the Iris

Types of Cardiac Muscle Fiber

✓ Atrial Cardiac Muscle
✓ Ventricular Cardiac Muscle

Smooth Muscle

✓ Is specialized for slow, steady contraction and is

controlled by a variety of involuntary mechanisms
✓ Fibers of smooth muscle (also called visceral muscle)
are elongated, tapering, and nonstriated cells, each of
which is enclosed by a thin basal lamina and a fine
network of reticular fibers, the endomysium
✓ SMOOTH MUSCLE FIBERS:
• Fusiform or spindle-shaped
• Elongated nucleus situated in their widest
central portion
• Vary in their length in the different organs (20
um – 500 um)
✓ TYPES OF SMOOTH MUSCLE:
• Visceral smooth muscle- in the walls of
hollow visceral organs
• Vascular smooth muscle- walls of blood
vessels
• Smooth muscle of the iris- sphincter and
dilator of papillae muscles

Location of Smooth Muscles

✓ Walls of the digestive tract from the middle of the

esophagus to the inner anal sphincter
✓ Walls of the respiratory tract from the trachea to the
alveolar ducts
✓ Walls of blood vessels
✓ Walls of ducts of glands
✓ Arrector pili muscle found in the hair bulb of skin
✓ Areola of mammary glands
✓ Subcutaneous tissue of the scrotum
✓ Urinary bladder
✓ Uterus

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