Muscular System

Connective Tissue Wrappings of

WHAT: Muscles are responsible for body
movements, stabilizing joints, and regenerating Skeletal Muscle
heat.
 Fascia – on the outside of the epimysium
HOW: Muscles generate the force required to cause  Epimysium – covers the entire skeletal
movement by contacting, a process in which muscle
proteins inside the muscle fibers overlap more than  Endomysium –connective tissue around
when they are at rest. single muscle fiber
WHY: In addition to whole body movements,  Perimysium- around a fascicle (bundle) of
muscles are needed to move substances inside our fibers
bodies: for example, air into and out of our lungs,
food through our digestive tracts, and blood through
our heart, and blood vessels.
THE muscular system
 Muscles are responsible for all types of body
movement
 Three basic muscle types are found in the
body
 Skeletal muscle
 Cardiac muscle
 Smooth muscle
Characteristics of muscles
Skeletal Muscle Attachments
 Muscle cells are elongated
(Muscle cell = muscle fiber)  Epimysium blends into a connective
 Contraction of muscles is due to the tissue attachment
movement of myofilaments – the muscle  Tendon – cord-like structure
cell equivalent of the microfilaments of  Aponeuroses – sheet-like
cytoskeletons structure
 All muscles share some terminology  Sites of muscle attachment
 Prefix myo- refers to muscle  Bones
 Prefix mys- refers to muscle  Cartilages
 Prefix sarco- refers to flesh  Connective tissue coverings

Skeletal Muscle Characteristics Smooth Muscle Characteristics

 Most are attached by tendons to bones  Has no striations

 Cells are multinucleate & cigar-shaped  Spindle-shaped cells
 Striated – have visible banding  Single nucleus
 Voluntary – subject to conscious control  Involuntary – no conscious control
 Cells are surrounded and bundled by  Found mainly in the walls of hollow organs
connective tissue

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  Myofibril
 Bundles of myofilaments
 Myofibrils are aligned to give
distrinct bands
 I band = light band
 A band = dark band

Cardiac Muscle Characteristics

 Sarcomere
 Has striations  Contractile unit of a muscle fiber
 Usually has a single nucleus
 Joined to another muscle cell at an
intercalated disc Organization of a Sarcomere
 Involuntary
 Found only in the heart DARK BANDS = Anisotropic (A – bands)
 Thick filaments = myosin filaments
 Composed of the protein myosin
 Has ATPase enzymes

Microscopic Anatomy of Skeletal  M line – central portion connected to

Muscle neighbors by proteins that help stabilize
 Cells are multinucleate their position
 Nuclei are just beneath the sarcolemma  H Zone – lighter region, containing only
 Sarcolemma – specialized plasma membrane thick filaments
 Zone of Overlap – with thin filaments
 Sarcoplasmic reticulum – specialized between thick filaments
smooth endoplasmic reticulum
LIGHT BANDS = Isotropic (I – Bands)
 From A-bands to A-bands; thin filaments
ONLY
 Thin filaments = actin filaments
 Composed of the protein “acTHIN”
 Z-Line (Z-disc)
 marks the boundary between adjacent
sarcomeres

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  contains ACTININ that interconnect thin
filaments of adjacent sarcomeres
 TITIN – extend from tips of thick
filaments to attachment sites at Z line;
keeps thick and thin filaments in
alignment
Microscopic Anatomy of Skeletal Muscle
 Myosin filaments have heads (extensions, or
cross bridges)
 Myosin and actin overlap somewhat
 Neuromuscular junctions – association site
of nerve and muscle

 At rest, there is a bare zone that lacks actin

filaments
 Sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) – for storage  Synaptic cleft – gap between nerve and
of muscle
calcium  Nerve and muscle do not make
Properties of Skeletal Muscle Activity contact
 Area between nerve and muscle is
 Irritability – ability to receive and respond to filled with interstitial fluid
a stimulus
 Contractility – ability to shorten when an Transmission of Nerve Impulse to Muscle
adequate stimulus is received  Neurotransmitter – chemical released by
Nerve Stimulus to Muscles nerve upon arrival of nerve impulse
o The neurotransmitter for skeletal
 Skeletal muscles must be stimulated by a muscle is acetylcholine
nerve to contract  Neurotransmitter attaches to receptors on the
 Motor unit sarcolemma
 One neuron  Sarcolemma becomes permeable to sodium
 Muscle cells stimulated by that (Na+)
neuron  Sodium rushing into the cell generates an
action potential
 Once started, muscle contraction cannot be
stopped
The Sliding Filament Theory of Muscle Contraction
 Activation by nerve causes myosin heads
(crossbridges) to attach to binding sites on
the thin filament

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  Myosin heads then bind to the next site of
the thin filament

The Sliding Filament Theory

 This continued action causes a sliding of the

myosin along the actin
 The result is that the muscle is shortened
(contracted)
Contraction of a Skeletal Muscle
 Muscle fiber contraction is “all or none”
 Within a skeletal muscle, not all fibers may
be stimulated during the same interval
 Different combinations of muscle fiber
contractions may give differing responses
 Graded responses – different degrees of
skeletal muscle shortening

Types of Graded Responses

 Single, brief contraction
 Not a normal muscle function
During Muscle Contraction…
 H-zone and I bands get SMALLER
 Zones of Overlap gets LARGER
 Z lines move closer
 Width of A band remains constant

 Tetanus (summing of contractions)

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  One contraction is immediately  Anaerobic glycolysis
followed by another  Reaction that breaks down glucose
 The muscle does not completely without oxygen
return to a resting state  Glucose is broken down to pyruvic
 The effects are added acid to produce some ATP
 Unfused (incomplete) tetanus  Pyruvic acid is converted to lactic
 Some relaxation occurs between acid
contractions  This reaction is not as efficient, but
 The results are summed is fast
 Huge amounts of glucose are
needed
 Lactic acid produces muscle
fatigue

 Fused (complete) tetanus

 No evidence of relaxation before the
following contractions
 The result is a sustained muscle
contraction

Muscle Response to Strong Stimuli

 Muscle force depends upon the number of
fibers stimulated
 More fibers contracting results in greater
muscle tension  Aerobic Respiration
 Muscles can continue to contract unless they  Series of metabolic pathways
run out of energy that occur in the
mitochondria
Energy for Muscle Contraction  Glucose is broken down to
carbon dioxide and water,
 Initially, muscles used stored ATP for releasing energy
energy  This is a slower reaction that
 Bonds of ATP are broken to release requires continuous oxygen
energy
 Only 4-6 seconds worth of ATP is
stored by muscles
 After this initial time, other pathways must
be utilized to produce ATP
 Direct phosphorylation
 Muscle cells contain creatine
phosphate (CP)
 CP is a high-energy molecule
 After ATP is depleted, ADP is left
 CP transfers energy to ADP, to regenerate
ATP
 CP supplies are exhausted in about 20
Muscle Fatigue
seconds
and Oxygen Debt
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  When a muscle is fatigued, it is  Results of increased muscle use
unable to contract  Increase in muscle size
 The common reason for muscle  Increase in muscle strength
fatigue is oxygen debt  Increase in muscle efficiency
o Oxygen must be “repaid” to
 Muscle becomes more fatigue
tissue to remove oxygen debt
resistant
o Oxygen is required to get rid
Types of Ordinary Body Movements
of accumulated lactic acid
 Increasing acidity (from lactic acid) and lack  Flexion
of ATP causes the muscle to contract less  Extension
 Rotation
 Abduction
Types of Muscle Contractions
 Circumduction
 Isotonic contractions
 Myofilaments are able to slide past
each other during contractions Body Movements
 The muscle shortens
 Isometric contractions
 Tension in the muscles increases
 The muscle is unable to shorten

Muscle Tone
 Some fibers are contracted even in a relaxed
muscle
 Different fibers contract at different times to
provide muscle tone Special Movements
 The process of stimulating various fibers is  Dorsifelxion
under involuntary control  Plantar flexion
 Inversion
Muscles and Body Movements
 Eversion
 Movement is attained due to a muscle
moving an attached bone  Supination
 Pronation
 Opposition

Types of Muscles
 Prime mover – muscle with the major
responsibility for a certain movement
 Antagonist – muscle that opposes or
reverses a prime mover
 Synergist – muscle that aids a prime mover
 Muscles are attached to at least two points in a movement and helps prevent rotation
 Origin – attachment to a moveable  Fixator – stabilizes the origin of a prime
bone mover
 Insertion – attachment to an
immovable bone
Effects of Exercise on Muscle Naming of Skeletal Muscles
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  Direction of muscle fibers
 Example: rectus (straight)
 Relative size of the muscle
 Example: maximus (largest)

 Location of the muscle

 Example: many muscles are named
for bones (e.g., temporalis)
 Number of origins
 Example: triceps (three heads)
 Location of the muscles origin and insertion
 Example: sterno (on the sternum)
 Shape of the muscle
 Example: deltoid (triangular)
 Action of the muscle
 Example: flexor and extensor (flexes
or extends a bone)

Head and Neck Muscles

Deep Trunk and Arm Muscles

Trunk Muscles

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 Superficial Muscles: Anterior

Muscles of the Pelvis, Hip, and Thigh

Superficial Muscles: Posterior

Muscles of the Lower Leg

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