Unit 3-Part 1: Muscle Anatomy and ECC

Ch 12: 323-331
 3 Types of Muscle Tissue
Skeletal
 Voluntary muscle; controlled consciously
 Have obvious stripes, called striated
 Over 600 throughout the body
 Multinucleated
Cardiac
w Involuntary muscle
 Only in the heart
 Uni or binucleated

Smooth
w Involuntary muscle
 In the walls of blood vessels and internal
organs
 uninucleated
• Skeletal
• Packaged in skeletal muscles that attach to and cover the
bony skeleton
• Has obvious stripes called striations
• Is controlled voluntarily (i.e., by conscious control)
• Contracts rapidly but tires easily
• Is responsible for overall body motility
• Cardiac
• Occurs only in the heart
• Is striated like skeletal muscle but is not voluntary
• Contracts at a steady rate set by the heart’s pacemaker
• Neural controls allow the heart to respond to changes in
bodily needs
• Smooth
• Found in the walls of hollow visceral organs, such as the
stomach, urinary bladder, and respiratory passages
• Forces food and other substances through internal body
channels
• It is not striated and is involuntary
 Functions of Muscle Tissue
1) Producing Movement
– Body movements (skeletal muscle)
– Movement of blood
– Movement of foodstuffs, urine
2) Maintaining Posture and Body Position
– Function continuously
3) Stabilizing Joints
4) Generating Heat
– Skeletal muscle is most important heat generating muscle type.
5) Protection, sphincters, pupils, ‘goosebumps’
6) Energy
– Not intended for energy but under extreme circumstances can
be used as an energy fuel source.
 Anatomy of Skeletal Muscle
• Each muscle cell is supplied by a nerve and an
artery and drained by a vein.
• Why do muscle cells need a nerve supply?

• Why do muscle cells need a rich blood supply?

• Why would muscle cells need to be drained by

veins?
 Figure 12.1 Structure of a skeletal muscle.

Bone
Tendon

Muscle body
Perimysium

Epimysium Fascicle

Muscle fiber (cell)

Myofibril

Sarcolemma Protein
Endomysium filaments
Muscle fibers Nucleus
in fascicle

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 Figure 12.2 Structure of a skeletal muscle fiber (1 of 4).

Axon of motor neuron

Muscle
fiber

Nucleus
Sarcolemma
Sarcoplasmic
reticulum
T tubule
Myofibrils

Mitochondria Thick Thin

filament filament
(myosin) (actin)
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A muscle fiber (aka a muscle cell)
• Cylindrical cell, up to 30 cm long
• Multiple peripheral nuclei
• Many mitochondria
• Glycosomes for glycogen storage,
myoglobin for O2 storage
• Also contain myofibrils,
sarcoplasmic reticulum, and T
tubules
• A muscle fiber contains hundreds of myofibrils
• A muscle fiber contains mitochondria, nuclei.
• Additional specialized structures include:
sarcoplasmic reticulum and t-tubules
• Contractile unit (not visible here) = sarcomere
Intracellular Tubules in skeletal muscle
• Skeletal muscle fibres (cells) contain 2 sets of
intracellular tubules that participate in
regulation of muscle contraction:
• 1. Sarcoplamic Reticulum
• 2. T tubules
 Figure 12.2 Structure of a skeletal muscle fiber.

Axon of motor neuron Neuromuscular junction Synaptic

Axon vesicles
Muscle terminal Synaptic
fiber cleft
Motor end
plate
T tubule

Nucleus
Sarcolemma
Sarcoplasmic
reticulum Sarcoplasmic
T tubule reticulum
Triad Myofibrils
T tubule
Lateral
sacs Lateral sacs

Mitochondria Thick Thin

filament filament
(myosin) (actin)

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 A Myofibril A band I band Crossbridges
Myofibril Z line M line Z line H zone Thick filaments

M line Z line Thin filaments

Sarcomere

Skeletal muscle fibres contain many threads, or filaments, made of 2 kinds of

proteins:
- Actin: thin filaments (light) (blue in diagram)
- Myosin: thick filaments (dark) (red in diagram)
A-band: region where actin and myosin overlap (darker in appearance)
I-band: region only composed for thin actin filaments (lighter in appearance)
• Alternating A and I bands give muscle cells (myofibril) their striated appearance
• Sarcomere
– The smallest contractile unit of a muscle
– The region of a myofibril between two successive
Z discs
– Composed of myofilaments made up of
contractile proteins
• Myofilaments are of two types – thick and
thin
Sarcomere A band I band Crossbridges
Myofibril Z line M line Z line H zone Thick filaments

M line Z line Thin filaments

Sarcomere

Filaments do not extend the entire length of the muscle fibre,

but rather are arranged in compartments called sarcomeres.
Narrow regions of dense material called Z discs (or Z lines)
separate one sarcomere from the next.
Sarcomere: is the region of a myofibril between 2 consecutive
Z discs
 Sarcomere A band I band Crossbridges
Myofibril Z line M line Z line H zone Thick filaments

M line Z line Thin filaments

Sarcomere

H zone: each A band has a lighter stripe in its midsection called

the H-zone
: H-zone contains thick but not thin filaments
M line: named because it’s in the middle of the sarcomere
: contains proteins that hold the thick filaments together
 Thin (actin)
filament Z disc H zone Z disc
Sarcomere
Titin
• is a protein that runs from Thick (myosin)
I band A band I band M line
one Z line right through the filament Sarcomere
(c) Small part of one myofibril enlarged to show the myofilaments
centre of mysosin and responsible for the banding pattern. Each sarcomere extends from

attaches to the M-line. one Z disc to the next.

Sarcomere
• Helps muscle cell spring Z disc M line Z disc

back into shape after it’s Thin (actin)

filament
Elastic (titin)
been stretched filaments
Thick
(myosin)
filament
Dystrophin
(d) Enlargement of one sarcomere (sectioned lengthwise). Notice the
• protein that anchors actin myosin heads on the thick filaments.

filaments to the sarcolema

giving contractile proteins
structural stability
Figure 9.2c, d
• Eg of microfilament
(actin) interacting with
plasma membrane
protein (dystrophin) in
muscle
• Disruption in dystrophin
can lead to dysfunction
(muscular dystrophy)
 Ultrastructure of Thick filaments are composed
Myofilaments: Thick Filaments of the protein myosin

Each myosin molecule has:

-a rod-like tail (points towards the
M-line)
-two globular heads called myosin
heads (extend towards the thin
filaments and link the thick and thin
filaments together (form cross-
bridges)

Myosin functions as a motor protein,

which push or pull various cell
structures to achieve movement

In skeletal muscle, about 300

molecules of myosin form a single
thick filament
Ultrastructure of Myofilaments: Thin Filaments

Thin filaments are chiefly composed of the protein actin

The Actin filament is composed of the proteins:
- Actin (G actin, which is the active site to which myosin
heads attach during a muscle contraction (myosin-binding site))
- Troponin
- Tropomyosin
In a relaxed muscle, myosin is blocked from binding to actin because strands
of tropomyosin cover the myosin-binding sites on actin. The tropomyosin
strands are held into place by troponin molecules.
Arrangement of the Actin and Myosin
Filaments in a Sarcomere
Skeletal muscles contract when
stimulated by a motor neuron

Excitation Contraction Coupling

 Signal propagation

• Action potential (Signal) is propagated across entire membrane surface.

• Reaches T-tubules: small invaginations in the membrane of a muscle cell.
 T-tubules and sarcoplasmic reticulum

• Each t-tubule is flanked by

sarcoplasmic reticulum.
• Action potential in t-tubule
opens up voltage sensitive
channels in SR.
• Ca2+ gets released into
cytoplasm and floods the
cell.
The crossbridge cycle
Calcium, troponin, and tropomyosin
The crossbridge cycle
 Relaxation
• Contraction ends once nerve stimulation stops.
• Ca++ is taken back into the sarcoplasmic reticulum
(This involves a calcium pump and requires ATP).
• Tropomyosin once again covers the myosin-binding
sites on actin.
• The cycle is back where it started.
• Acetylcholine is quickly broken down to acetate and
choline by acetylcholinestarase (enzyme)
 Summary of Events: Cross-Bridge Cycle
Contraction
1. Calcium released from the SR will
bind to troponin. (E-C C)
2. This moves tropomyosin away from
myosin’s binding site on actin. (E-C C)
3. The myosin head attaches to the
actin filament = Cross-bridge formation.
4. Working (power) stroke – myosin
head pivots and pulls actin filament
toward the center of the sarcomere.
5.Myosin detaches from actin using
ATP.
6. Repeat steps 3-5, shortening the
sarcomere more and more.
Relaxation
1. Calcium is taken back quickly
into the sarcoplasmic reticulum
(SR).
–This is active transport using a
pump and ATP!
2. The myosin head detaches from
actin as tropomyosin moves back
into its “blocking” position.
3. Actin and myosin are ready to
contract again.
4. Acetylcholine is broken down
by acetylcholinestarase.
Excitation-Contraction (EC) Coupling
:The full picture
Steps in Excitation-Contraction Coupling
1. Depolarization of the motor neuron
2. Depolarization of the muscle cell
3. Release of calcium from the sarcoplasmic
reticulum
4. Calcium binding to troponin
5. Cross-bridge cycling
6. Muscle relaxation
 Importance of ATP
• ATP is required to detach myosin heads from
actin during the cross-bridge cycle.
• Also ATP is used to actively pump Ca++ back out
of sarcoplasm (into SR).
• What would happen if no ATP was present?
– Myosin would be unable to release from actin and
muscle would be in a continuous state of contraction.
• Would this actually happen in real life?
– No! But it does happen in death!