Hadba University College

Department
of Medical Laboratory
Technology

Report Title

Muscular Tissues
by Students
❖ Ahmed Abdul Qadir Mahmoud
❖ Zaid Adnan Katta
❖ Ahmed Jassim Mohammed
❖ Mahmoud Salem Saeed
❖Muhammad Hussein Khudair

Under the supervision of the doctor

Elham Al Rawi

2023/M 1445/H

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 Muscular Tissues
It is the tissue responsible for the movement of various
parts of the body due to its ability to contract. Muscle tissue
arises from the mesoderm layer in the fetus and consists of
elongated cells called muscle fibers and a small amount of
interstitial matter.

Muscles are classified according to their structure and

function into three types:
1- Involuntary smooth muscles (visceral)
2. Smooth Involuntary Muscle- Striated Voluntary Muscle
(Skeletal)
3. Striated Voluntary Muscle- Striated Involuntary Muscle.

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 Smooth Involuntary Muscle
It is found in the walls of the digestive canal,
the walls of the respiratory passages, and the
walls of blood vessels. It is also found in the
skin and other parts of the human body. The
contraction of these muscles is not under the
control of the individual's will, which is why it
is called involuntary. Smooth muscle consists
of long, spindle-shaped cells that appear round or
polygonal in cross section. Each cell contains a centrally
located oval or rod nucleus. Smooth muscle cells vary in
length, ranging from 20-500 micrometers or more in the
wall of the pregnant mother's uterus. The cytoplasm
appears under an electron microscope, which is called
muscle cytoplasm, containing bundles of muscle filaments.
These bundles represent myofibrils under an optical
microscope. These bundles are parallel to the longitudinal
axis of the cell and are not striated transversely. The
plasma membrane of a smooth muscle cell appears under
an electron microscope surrounded by a basement
membrane accompanied by reticular fibers. Muscular
cytoplasm is collected around and at the two poles of the
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nucleus, where it contains the living contents of the cell,
such as mitochondria, the Golgi apparatus, and the
endoplasmic reticulum, which contains ribosomes. Smooth
muscle fibers are found singly or in the form of bundles or
sheets. The cells or fibers are arranged in an almost regular
manner, with the expanding central part of one fiber
appearing opposite the tapering final part of other
neighboring fibers. This is why the nucleus appears in some
fibers in the cross section and does not appear in others.

Striated Voluntary Muscle

It makes up all the muscles connected to the
skeleton. The contraction of the muscles of this
type is under the control of the individual's will.
The muscle consists of very long, many-
nucleated cylindrical cells or fibers that may
reach a length of 130 mm. These fibers are gathered into
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groups called fascicles, and when they are grouped
together, they form skeletal muscle. The entire muscle is
surrounded by a layer of fibrous connective tissue in
irregular quantities, called the outer muscular envelope.
Each fascicle is also surrounded by a layer of connective
tissue that is thinner and less dense than the first, called the
peripheral muscular envelope, which extends from the
outer muscular envelope. Each muscle fiber may also be
surrounded by a very thin mesh covering made up of a fine
network of reticular fibers, called the inner muscle sheath.
These sheaths are collected in the blood vessels and nerves
in their branches. Capillaries can be observed in the inner
muscular envelope between muscle fibers.

Structure of skeletal muscle fibers

A single muscle fiber is surrounded by a thin cover called
the muscular membrane. It was found under an electron
microscope that this cover is a complex membrane
consisting of the plasma membrane of the muscle fiber and
an outer layer of an interstitial substance made up of a
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polysaccharide protein substance in which is embedded a
fine network of reticular fibers. The nuclei of muscle fibers
are oval or elongated and located in the segment Mostly
peripheral to fiber. The muscle fiber contains muscle
cytoplasm, which in turn contains the living contents of the
cell and myofibrils

Types of Skeletal Muscle Fibers

Two types of muscle fibers can be distinguished based on
their structural appearance and speed of contraction:
1.Red muscle fibers.
2- White muscle fibers.
Red muscle fibers contain a large amount of myoglobin,
which gives red muscle fibers their red color. It is rich in a
network of capillary blood vessels, more than what is found
in white muscle fibers. Both types are found in a single
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muscle. There may be intermediate muscle fibers between
the red and white fibers as well. The red fibers are thin, and
their muscle fibers are not clearly distinguished, have
variable diameter, and contain a large number of
mitochondria. As for the white fibers, they are larger in
diameter, the muscle fibrils are more clear, and they
contain a wide muscular endoplasmic reticulum and fewer
mitochondria than what is found in the red fibers. Red
muscle fibers are specialized for slow, repeated contraction
for long periods of time. As for white muscle fibers, they
are found in large numbers in the muscles and are used for
rapid contraction. Compared to red fibers, fatigue occurs
relatively quickly.

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 Striated Involuntary Muscle
This type of muscle is found in the heart and
extends to the bases of the large blood vessels
connected to the heart. The muscle consists of
muscle fibers surrounded by a membrane
similar in structure to the muscle membrane
in striated muscles, but thinner. Each cardiac
muscle fiber consists of longitudinally arranged and
transversely arranged fibers in a way that resembles the
fibers of a skeletal muscle fiber. Between the cardiac
muscle fibers there is a narrow space filled with loose
ligamentous tissue containing capillary blood vessels. The
contraction of cardiac muscles is not under the control of
the individual's will and is therefore functionally
involuntary.
Cardiac muscle fibers differ structurally from skeletal
muscle fibers in the following:
1.Cardiac muscle fibers appear in longitudinal section as
dark, graduated, transverse areas called interstitial discs.
Electron microscopy has shown that the interstitial discs are
zoneSpecialized to connect cellular units to each other, so
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these discs are in fact areas of adhesion of cardiac cells to
each other, where the plasma membranes of neighboring
cardiac cells meet, and these adjacent membranes are
zigzag, as the prominent areas of the zigzags of one of the
two cells overlap with the ruffled areas of the zigzags of the
other cell.
2- Cardiac muscle fibers contain one centrally located
nucleus, while skeletal muscle fibers are always
multinucleated and often peripherally located.
3- Cardiac muscle fibers branch out and meet with other
neighboring muscle fibers, while this does not happen in
skeletal muscle fibers.
4- Cardiac muscle fibers are smaller in diameter than
skeletal muscle fibers.
5- Cardiac myofibrils appear rougher in the cross-section
of a single fiber than skeletal myofibrils.
6- The myofibrils in the cardiac muscle fiber move away
from the area around the nucleus, where the muscle
cytoplasm is collected. This is not the case in skeletal
muscle fiber.

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 7- The transverse layout in the cardiac muscle fiber is
close and less clear than in the skeletal muscle fiber.
8- The muscle membrane of the cardiac muscle fiber is
thinner than the muscle membrane of the skeletal muscle
fiber

Purkinje fibers
In addition to the normal cardiac muscle fibers above,
there are specialized muscle fibers related to the delivery of
contraction impulses from one section of the heart to
another faster than the normal cardiac muscle fibers. These
fibers are called Purkinje fibers. These fibers are located
under the inner pericardium near the cardiac muscular
envelope, especially in the ventricular wall, forming part of
the device for transmitting contraction impulses. These
fibers are arranged in small groups. They are larger and
thicker and appear lighter in color than normal cardiac
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muscle fibers in the stained sections. It differs from it in
that the fibrils in each fiber are few glands and are located
at the periphery of the fiber, leaving the central region
filled with muscle cytoplasm and rich in animal starch. The
transverse layout in the fibrils of Purkinje fibers appears
similar to the layout found in the fibrils of normal cardiac
muscle fibers. Purkinje fibers, like cardiac muscle fibers,
form a network of discrete cell units. Interstitial discs are
present but are often not easily seen

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