The Muscular System

• The muscular system is responsible for

functions such as maintenance of posture,
locomotion, and control of various circulatory
systems.
• Muscle tissue can be divided functionally
(voluntarily or involuntarily controlled) and
morphologically (striated or non-striated).
• These classifications describe three distinct
muscle types: skeletal, cardiac and smooth.
Skeletal muscle is voluntary and striated,
cardiac muscle is involuntary and striated,
and smooth muscle is involuntary and non-
striated.
Vocabulary:
• Myofibril - miofibryla
• Myofilament - miofilament
• Myosin - miozyna
• Actin - aktyna
• Striated - prążkowany
• Voluntary - świadomy
• Involuntary - mimowolny
• Myocyte – miocyt. A muscle cell.
Skeletal muscle mainly attaches to the
skeletal system via tendons to maintain
posture and control movement. They can
contract and relax without breaking, they are
elastic, they also protect our organs. Muscles
connect together with our bones with fibres
called tendons (ścięgna). The connection of
both systems directed by the nervous system
allows us to move.
The properties of muscles:
• they are excitable (pobudliwy, wrażliwy na
bodźce) or irritable
this means that they are capable of receiving
stimulation and responding to stimulation
from the nerves.
• Contractible (kurczliwe)
After receiving stimulation, they are capable
of contracting, or shortening
• Extensible (rozciągliwy)
A muscle can be stretched without damage by
the application of force.
• Elasticity
A muscle is able to return to its original
resting shape and length after being extended
or contracted
• Adaptability (możliwość przystosowania)
The muscular system is adaptable to, it can be
changed on response to how it is used.
The skeletal muscle is built of belly of muscle
(brzusiec) and tendons. The belly of muscle is
built of muscle bundles (pęczków włókien
mięśniowych) which consist of myofibrils.
Myofibrils are built of thin actin filaments
and thick myosin filaments.
These filaments slide past one another as the
muscle contracts and expands. On each
myofibril, regularly occurring dark bands,
called Z lines, can be seen where actin and
myosin filaments overlap. The region
between two Z lines is called a sarcomere;
sarcomeres can be considered the primary
structural and functional unit of muscle tissue.
ATP is the main source of energy required for
both muscle contraction and muscle
relaxation.