Chapter 6 Muscular system -striations

-Involuntary
-Muscles are responsible for all types of body movement
-Found only in the walls of the heart
-Three basic muscles types are found in the body
-Uninucleate
1. Skeletal muscle
-Branching cells joined by gap junctions called
2. Cardiac Muscle
intercalated discs
3. Smooth muscle
-Contracts at a steady rate by pacemaker
Muscles types
 Whereas all muscle types produce movement, skeletal
 Skeletal and smooth muscles cells are elongated
muscle has three other important roles:
(muscle cell= muscle fiber)
-Maintain posture and body position
 Contraction and shortening of muscles are due to the -Stabilize joints
Movement of microfilaments -Generate heat
 All muscles share some terminology
-Prefixes myo- and mys- refer to “muscle” Microscopic Anatomy of Skeletal Muscle
-Prefix sarco- refers to “flesh”  Sarcolemma- specialized plasma membrane
 Myofibrils- long organelles inside muscle cell
 Skeletal muscle -Light (I) bands and dark (A) bands give the muscle its
-Most skeletal muscle fibers are attached by tendons to striated (banded) appearance
bones  Banding pattern of myofibrils
-Skeletal muscle cells are larger, cigar-shaped, and
-I band = light band
multinucleate
Contains only thin filaments
-Also known as striated muscle because of it’s obvious
Z disc is a midline interruption
stripes
-A band= dark band
-Also known as voluntary muscle because it is the only
Contains the entire length of the thick filaments
muscle tissue subject to conscious control
H zone is lighter central area
 Skeletal muscle cells are surrounded and bundled by M line is in center of H zone
connective tissue
-Endomysium- encloses a single muscle fiber  Sarcomere- contractile unit of a muscle fiber
-Perimysium- wraps around a fascicle (bundle) of
-Structural and functional unit of skeletal muscle
muscle fibers
 Organization of the sarcomere
-Epimysium- covers the entire skeletal muscle
-Myofilaments produce banding (striped) pattern;
-Fascia- on the outside of the epimysium
1. Thick filaments= myosin filaments
 The epimysium of skeletal muscle blends into a
-Composed of the protein myosin
connective tissue attachment
-Contain ATPase enzymes to split ATP to release energy
-Tendons- cordlike structures
for muscle contractions
Mostly collagen fibers
-Possess projections known as myosin heads
Often cross a joint because of their toughness and small
-Myosin heads are known as cross bridges when they link
size
thick and thin filaments during contraction
-Aponeuroses- sheetlike structures
2. Thin Filaments= actin filaments
-Attach muscles indirectly to bones, cartilages, or
-composed of the contractile protein actin
connective tissue coverings
-Actin is anchored to the Z disc
 At rest, within the A band there is a zone that lacks actin
 Smooth muscle
filaments called the H zone
-No striations
 During contraction, H zone disappear as actin and myosin
-Involuntary- no conscious control
filaments overlap.
-Found mainly in the walls of hollow visceral organs
 Sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR)
(such as stomach, urinary bladder, respiratory passages)
-Specialized smooth endoplasmic reticulum
-Spindle-shaped fibers that are unicleate
-Surrounds the myofibril
-Contractions are slow and sustained
-Stores and releases calcium
 Cardiac Muscle
Special functional properties of skeletal muscles
 Irritability (also called responsiveness) – ability to -Graded responses- different degrees of skeletal muscle
receive and respond to a stimulus shortening
Contractility- ability to forcibly shorten when an
adequate stimulus is received Contraction of a skeletal muscle as a whole
Extensibility- ability to recoil and resume resting length  Graded responses can be produced in two ways
after stretching -By changing the frequency of muscle stimulation
Elasticity- ability to recoil and resume resting length after -By changing the number
stretching  Muscle response to increasingly rapid stimulation
Muscle twitch
The nerve Stimulus and Action Potential -Single, brief, jerky contraction
 Skeletal mucles must be stimulated by a motor neuron -Not a normal muscle function
(nerve cell) to contract  Muscle response to increasingly rapid stimulation
 Motor unit- one motor neuron and all the skeletal muscle -In most types of muscle activity, nerve impulses are
cells stimulated by that neuron delivered at a rapid rate
-As a result, contractions are “summed” (added)
 Nueromuscular junction
-Association site of axon terminal of the motor neuron and
sarcolemma of a muscle
 Nuerotransmitter
-Chemical released by a nerve upon arrival of nerve
impulse in the axon terminal
-Acetylcholine (Ach) is the neurotransmitter that
stimulates skeletal muscle
 Synaptic Cleft
-Gap between nerve and muscle filled with interstitial
fluid
-Although very close, the nerve and muscle do not make
contact

 When a nerve impulse reaches the axon terminal of the

motor neuron,
Step 1: calcium channels open, and calcium ions enter the axon
terminal
Step2: Calcium ion entry causes some synaptic vesicles to
release acetylcholine (Ach)
Step 3: Ach diffuses across the synaptic cleft and attaches to
receptors on the sarcolemma of the muscle cell
Step 4; If enough Ach is released, the sarcolemma becomes
temporarily more permeable to sodium ions (Na+)
-Potassium ions (K+) diffuse out of the cell
-More sodium ions enter that potassium ions leave
-Establishes an imbalance in which interior has more
positive ions (depolarization), thereby opening more Na+
channels.
 Graded responses
 Muscle fiber contraction is “all-or-none”, meaning it will
contract to its fullest when stimulated adequately
-Within a whole skeletal muscle, not all fibers may be
stimulated during the same interval
-Different combinations of muscle fiber contractions may give
differing responses