Muscle

Introduction
 Muscle tissue is characterized by its well-
developed properties of contraction.
 Muscle is responsible for the movements of the
body and the various parts of the body.
 contraction for locomotion and skeletal movement
 contraction for propulsion
 contraction for pressure regulation
 Muscle develops from embryonic mesoderm
 Muscle classification
 Classified according to a morphological classification or a
functional classification.
 Morphological classification (based on structure)
 There are two types of muscle based on the
morphological classification system
 Striated
 Non striated or smooth.
 Functional classification
 There are two types of muscle based on a functional
classification system
 Voluntary
 Involuntary.
 Characteristics of Muscle
 excitability - responds to stimuli (e.g.,
nervous impulses)

 contractility - able to shorten in length

 extensibility - stretches when pulled

 elasticity - tends to return to original shape &

length after contraction or extension
Types of muscle
 Skeletal muscle
 also known as striated and voluntary muscle

 Cardiac muscle
 striated and involuntary muscle

 Smooth muscle
 non striated and involuntary
 Skeletal muscle
●Skeletal muscle cells are
elongated or tubular.

●They have multiple nuclei

and these nuclei are
located on the periphery
of the cell.

●Skeletal muscle is
striated- has an
alternating pattern of
light and darks bands
 Epimysium-Dense CT-
encloses entire muscle
 Perimysium-derived
from septal extension
of epimysium
 Carries rich blood &
nerve supply to
individual muscle
supply
 Endomysium-delicate
layer of reticular fiber
 Separate individual
muscle fibers within
a fasicle
 The muscle is made up of
smaller bundles known
as fascicles. Fascicles are
actually bundles of
individual muscle cells
(myofibers or myocytes).
These bundles are
surrounded by a
connective tissue sheath
called the perimysium.

 Each fascicle is made up of
several muscle cells – myocytes
/myofibers / muscle fibers.
 Each muscle cell is surrounded
by a connective tissue sheath -
the endomysium.
 This sheath is very important in
the physiology of muscle
contraction - it electrically
insulates the individual muscle
cells from each other.
 Sarcolemma - plasma
membrane of the
muscle cell.

 Known as T tubules
(short for transverse
tubules).

 essential for carrying
the depolarization
brought to the cell by a
motor nerve impulse
down into the muscle
cell where it can have
an affect on the
terminal cisternae.

 maintains a membrane
potential
 Dark band-anisotropic (A)
 Divided by a thin, light
staining band (H)

 Light band-isotropic (I)

 Each I band bisected by a
dark, transverse partition
(Z)
Thin & Thick Filament
 Actin
 Long filamentous polymers consisting of 2 strands
of globular (G-Actins) monomers
 F-actin
 Tropomyosin
 Long, thin molecule (40 nm in length)
 Troponin - complex of 3 subunits
 TNT- attached to tropomyosin
 TNC- binds Ca2+ ions
 TNI- inhibits actin-myosin interaction
Red & White Muscle
 Red Muscle
 Red fiber
 Due to abundance of muscle pigment-myoglobin
 Less glycogen
 Increase in mitochondria
 Contract more slowly
 Postural muscle
 White muscle
 White fibre
 Less mitochondria
 Less pigment
 poor blood supply
 Fast acting contract
 Fatigue quickly
 Cardiac muscle
●not as long as skeletal
muscles cells and
often are branched
cells.

●may be
mononucleated or
binucleated located
centrally in the cell.

●Striated and contain

intercalated discs.
 Cardiac muscle
cells-cardiocytes
 Elongated
 Contain sarcomere
 Exhibit transverse
binding pattern
 Surrounded by
external lamina
 Intercalated discs
 Extensive junctional structures that occur between
cardiac myocytes
 Function -providing area for secure attachment &
intracellular communication
 Arranged in step-like structure that follow a zig zag
contours in between 2 cardiocytes
 Types of cardiocytes
 Contractile cardiocytes-working myocytes
 Typical cells of myocardium
 Conductile cardiocytes
 Cells that make up fiber of the cardiac conduction
system
 Specialized for conducting the depolarization currents
 Also known as purkinje fibers
 Endocrine cardiocytes
 atrial cardiocytes contain a unique cytoplasmic bodies
 Contain peptide hormones with diuretic and
vasorelaxant activities
 Smooth Muscle
●spindle shaped.
●wide in the middle and

narrow to almost a point at

both ends.
●single centrally located

nucleus.
●do not have visible striations

although they do contain the

same contractile proteins as
skeletal and cardiac muscle,
these proteins are just laid out
in a different pattern.
 Size-vary in length from 15 micrometer to 500
micrometer (pregnant uterus)
 3-8 micrometer in diameter
 Location:
 Walls of hollow organs-alimentary canal, blood vessels,
uterus, etc
 Skin-arrector pili
 Contain actin & myosin
 Contraction of smooth
muscle
 Slow & sustained
 Individual cells may contract completely or a wave of
contraction may propagate from one end to the tissue
to the other
 Mechanism of contraction
 Sliding filament mechanism
 Initiation of contraction
 Triggered by various stimuli including hormone and
nervous