SKELETAL MUSCLE

CONTRACTION-MOTOR UNIT

DR.FAUZIA
MUSCLE STRUCTURE & FILAMENTS
• Each muscle fiber is multinucleate and behave
as a single unit.
• It contain bundles of myofibrils surrounded by
sarcoplasmic reticulum and invaginated by
transverse tubules (T tubules)
• Each myofibril contain thick and thin filaments
arranged longitudinally in sarcomere
• Repeating units of sarcomere account for the
unique bending pattern in striated muscle.
• A sarcomere runs from Z line to Z line
Now, putting it all together to perform the function
of muscle: Contraction
 Thick filaments
• Are present in the A band in the center of
sarcomere
• Contain myosin
• Myosin has six polypeptide chains- one pair of
heavy chain and two pairs of light chains
• Each molecule has two heads attached to a
single tail. The myosin heads bind ATP and actin
, and are involved in cross bridge formation.
 Molecular Characteristics of the Contractile
Filaments: MYOSIN
• Myosin Filaments Are Composed of Multiple Myosin Molecules
 Thin Filaments
• Are attached to Z lines
• Are present in the I bands
• Interdigitate with the thick filaments in a
portion of the A band
• Contain actin, tropomyosin and troponin
• Troponin is a complex of three globular
proteins:
 Troponin T---tropomyosin
 Troponin I --- inhibit interaction of actin&
myosin
 Troponin C --- is Ca++ binding protein
 Molecular Characteristics of the Contractile
Filaments: ACTIN
• Actin Filaments Are Composed of Actin, Tropomyosin, and Troponin
 T tubules
• Are extensive tubular network, open to the
extracellular space, that carry the depolarization
from the sarcolemmal membrane to the cell
interior
• Are localized at the junction of A and I bands
 Sarcoplasmic reticulum
• Is the internal tubular structure that stores the
Ca++
• Has terminal cisternae that make intimate
contact with the T tubules in a triad
arrangement
• Membrane contains Ca ATPase-(Ca pumps)
which transports Ca from ICF to SR interior,
keeping IC Ca++ low
Sarcoplasmic Reticulum (SR)
• The actin filaments are moved by the heads of the
myosin filaments.
• In step one the myosin head attaches to an actin
filament to create a cross bridge
• Step two shows that the attached myosin head
bends to move the actin filament. The myosin head
as expended energy to create this movement. This
is a power stroke or working stroke.
• Step three shows that energy in the form of ATP
will unhook the myosin head.
• In step 4 the myosin head is cocked and ready to
attach to an actin filament to start another power
stroke.
 Sliding Filament Model of Contraction
• Thin filaments slide past the thick ones so that
the actin and myosin filaments overlap to a
greater degree
• In the relaxed state, thin and thick filaments
overlap only slightly
• Upon stimulation, myosin heads bind to actin
and sliding begins
How striated muscle works: The Sliding Filament Model

The lever movement drives displacement of the actin filament relative to the myosin
head (~5 nm), and by deforming internal elastic structures, produces force (~5 pN).
Thick and thin filaments interdigitate and “slide” relative to each other.
 Muscle Contraction Summary
• Nerve impulse reaches myoneural junction
• Acetylcholine is released from motor neuron
• Ach binds with receptors in the muscle
membrane to allow sodium to enter
• Sodium influx will generate an action potential
in the sarcolemma
 Muscle Contraction
• Action potential travels down T tubule
• Sarcoplamic reticulum releases calcium
• Calcium binds with troponin to move the
troponin, tropomyosin complex
• Binding sites in the actin filament are
exposed
 Muscle Contraction
• Myosin head attach to binding sites and create
a power stroke
• ATP detaches myosin heads and energizes
them for another contaction
• When action potentials cease the muscle stop
contracting
Mechanics of Skeletal Muscle Contraction :
MOTOR UNIT
• All the muscle fibers
innervated by a single
nerve fiber are called a
motor unit
Types of Muscle fibers(Motor unit)
• TYPE I or S slow, non fatigue able RED

• TYPE IIA or FF fast, fatigue able WHITE

• TYPE IIB or FR fast, fatigue resistance WHITE

 Multiple Fiber Summation : The Size
Principle
• The smaller motor units of the muscle may be
stimulated in preference to the larger motor
units. Then, as the strength of the signal
increases, larger and larger motor units begin
to be excited as well
 Recruitment
• Varying the number of motor units activated.

Number & Size of Motor Units Recruited

Small motor units Larger motor units Largest motor units
Low stimulus threshold Higher stimulus Highest stimulus
threshold threshold

The Size Principle

↓ Amount of Force Required During Movement ↑
Tetanization
• Total strength of contraction
rises progressively with
increasing frequency
• When the frequency reaches a
critical level, the successive
contractions eventually
become so rapid that they fuse
together and the whole
muscle contraction appears to
be completely smooth and
continuous, as shown in the
figure. This is called
tetanization
 The Staircase Effect (Treppe)
• When a muscle begins to contract after a long
period of rest, its initial strength of contraction
may be as little as one-half its strength 10 to
50 muscle twitches later. That is, the strength
of contraction increases to a plateau, a
phenomenon called the staircase effect, or
treppe.
 Muscle Fatigue, Hypertrophy & Atrophy

• Prolonged and strong contraction of a muscle

leads to the well-known state of muscle
fatigue

• Increase in size-hypertrophy

• Decrease in size- Atrophy

 General
• An action potential travels along a motor nerve to its endings
on muscle fibers.
• At each ending, the nerve secretes a small amount of the
neurotransmitter substance acetylcholine.
• The acetylcholine acts on a local area of the muscle fiber
membrane to open multiple "acetylcholine-gated" cation
channels through protein molecules floating in the membrane.
• Opening of the acetylcholine-gated channels allows large
quantities of sodium ions to diffuse to the interior of the muscle
fiber membrane. This causes a local depolarization that in turn
leads to opening of voltage-gated sodium channels. This
initiates an action potential at the membrane.
• The action potential travels along the muscle fiber membrane in the
same way that action potentials travel along nerve fiber membranes.

• The action potential depolarizes the muscle membrane, and much of

the action potential electricity flows through the center of the
muscle fiber. Here it causes the sarcoplasmic reticulum to release
large quantities of calcium ions that have been stored within this
reticulum.

• The calcium ions initiate attractive forces between the actin and
myosin filaments, causing them to slide alongside each other, which
is the contractile process.

• After a fraction of a second, the calcium ions are pumped back into
the sarcoplasmic reticulum by a Ca++ membrane pump and remain
stored in the reticulum until a new muscle action potential comes
along; this removal of calcium ions from the myofibrils causes the
muscle contraction to cease.