Animal Physiology

Muscular System
BITS Pilani
Pilani Campus Syamantak Majumder
 Muscle
• Comprises largest group of tissues in body
• Three types of muscle
– Skeletal muscle
• Make up muscular system
– Cardiac muscle
• Found only in the heart
– Smooth muscle
• Appears throughout the body systems as
components of organs and tubes

 Without these muscles, nothing in the body

would move and no body movement would
occur
Muscle Tissue
Striated muscle tissue is
a muscle tissue that
features repeating functional
units called sarcomeres.
The presence
of sarcomeres manifests as
a series of bands visible
along the muscle fibers,
which is responsible for the
striated appearance
observed in microscopic
images of this tissue.
 6 Functions of Skeletal
Muscles
1. Produce skeletal movement
2. Maintain body position and posture
3. Support soft tissues
4. Guard body openings (entrance/exit)
5. Maintain body temperature
6. Store Nutrient reserves
 Structure of Skeletal Muscle
• Muscle consists of a number of muscle fibers
lying parallel to one another and held
together by connective tissue.

• Single skeletal muscle cell is known as a

muscle fiber
– Multinucleated
– Large, elongated, and cylindrically shaped
– Fibers usually extend entire length of muscle
 Organization of Connective
Tissues
• Muscles have 3 layers of connective
tissues:
1. Epimysium- Exterior collagen layer
Separates muscle from surrounding tissue

2. Perimysium- Surrounds muscle fiber

bundles (fascicles)
Contains blood vessel and nerve supply to
fascicles
3. Endomysium

• Surrounds individual muscle cells

(muscle fibers)

• Contains capillaries and nerve fibers

contacting muscle cells

• Contains satellite cells (stem cells) that

repair damage
VARIOUS COMPONENTS OF MUSCLE
Organization in a skeletal muscle
Levels of organization in a skeletal muscle
Levels of organization in a skeletal muscle
Electron micrograph of a relaxed myofibril
 Structure of Skeletal Muscle
• Titin
– Giant, highly elastic protein
– Largest protein in body
– Extends in both directions from M line along
length of thick filament to Z lines at opposite
ends of sarcomere
– Two important roles:
• Along with M-line proteins helps stabilize position
of thick filaments in relation to thin filaments
• Greatly augments muscle’s elasticity by acting like
a spring
 Myosin
• Component of thick filament
• Protein molecule consisting of two identical
subunits shaped somewhat like a golf club
– Tail ends are intertwined around each other
– Globular heads project out at one end
• Tails oriented toward center of filament and
globular heads protrude outward at regular
intervals
– Heads form cross bridges between thick and thin
filaments
• Cross bridge has two important sites critical to
contractile process
– An actin-binding site
– A myosin ATPase (ATP-splitting) site
ULTRA-STRUCTURE OF ACTIN
Composition of a Thin Filament
 Actin
• Primary structural component of thin
filaments
• Spherical in shape
• Thin filament also has two other proteins
– Tropomyosin and troponin
• Each actin molecule has special binding site
for attachment with myosin cross bridge
– Binding results in contraction of muscle fiber
 Thin Filament Proteins
1. F-actin
– is 2 twisted rows of globular G actin
– the active sites on G actin strands bind to myosin
2. Nebulin
– holds F actin strands together
3. Tropomyosin
– is a double strand
– prevents actin–myosin interaction
4. Troponin
- a globular protein
– binds tropomyosin to G actin
– controlled by Ca2+
 Tropomyosin and Troponin
• Often called regulatory proteins
• Tropomyosin
– Thread-like molecules that lie end to end
alongside groove of actin spiral
– In this position, covers actin sites blocking
interaction that leads to muscle contraction
• Troponin
– Made of three polypeptide units
• One binds to tropomyosin
• One binds to actin
• One can bind with Ca2+
 Tropomyosin and Troponin
• Troponin
– When not bound to Ca2+, troponin stabilizes
tropomyosin in blocking position over actin’s
cross-bridge binding sites
– When Ca2+ binds to troponin, tropomyosin
moves away from blocking position
– With tropomyosin out of way, actin and
myosin bind, interact at cross-bridges
– Muscle contraction results
Cross-bridge interaction between actin
and myosin brings about muscle
contraction by means of the sliding
filament mechanism.
 Sliding Filament Mechanism
• Increase in Ca2+ starts filament sliding
• Decrease in Ca2+ turns off sliding process
• Thin filaments on each side of sarcomere
slide inward over stationary thick filaments
toward center of A band during contraction
• As thin filaments slide inward, they pull Z
lines closer together
• Sarcomere shortens
 Sliding Filament Mechanism
• All sarcomeres throughout muscle
fiber’s length shorten
simultaneously
• Contraction is accomplished by
thin filaments from opposite sides
of each sarcomere sliding closer
together between thick filaments
Cross-bridge activity
Skeletal Muscle Fibers

• Are very long

• Develop through fusion of mesodermal cells
(myoblasts - embryonic cells)
• Become very large
• Contain hundreds of nuclei – multinucleate
• Unfused cells are satellite cells- assist in
repair after injury
Myofibrils
• Lengthwise subdivisions within muscle fiber
• Made up of bundles of protein filaments
(myofilaments)
• Myofilaments - are responsible for muscle
contraction

Types of Myofilaments
• Thin filaments
– made of the protein actin
• Thick filaments
– made of the protein myosin
 Which part(s) of the sarcomere
is/are going to be lengthier when
the a muscle fiber is in relaxed
state than contracted?
Changes in Banding Pattern During Shortening
The Sarcolemma
• The cell membrane of a muscle cell
• Surrounds the sarcoplasm (cytoplasm
of muscle fiber)
• A change in trans-membrane potential
begins contractions
• All regions of the cell must contract
simultaneously
SYNAPTIC CONDUCTION OF NERVE IMPULSE
The T tubules and sarcoplasmic reticulum in
relationship to the myofibrils
Sarcoplasmic Reticulum (SR)
• A membranous
structure
surrounding each
myofibril
• Helps transmit action
potential to myofibril
• Similar in structure to
SER
• Forms chambers
(terminal cisternae)
attached to T tubules
T tubule and adjacent lateral sacs of SR
The Neuro-muscular Junction
• Is the location of neural stimulation
• Action potential (electrical signal):
– travels along nerve axon
– ends at synaptic terminal
Synaptic Terminal
• Releases neurotransmitter (acetylcholine or
Ach) into the synaptic cleft (gap between
synaptic terminal and motor end plate)
The Neurotransmitter
• Acetylcholine or ACh:
– travels across the synaptic cleft
– binds to membrane receptors on sarcolemma
(motor end plate)
– causes sodium ion rush into sarcoplasm
– is quickly broken down by enzyme
(acetylcholinesterase or AChE)
Action Potential
• Generated by increase in sodium ions in
sarcolemma

• Travels along the T tubules

• Leads to excitation–contraction coupling

Excitation – Contraction Coupling
• Action potential reaches a triad:
– releasing Ca2+
– triggering contraction

• Requires myosin heads to be in “cocked”

position:
– loaded by ATP energy
ROLE OF CALCIUM IONS
5 Steps of the Contraction Cycle
1. Exposure of active sites

2. Formation of cross-bridges

3. Pivoting of myosin heads

4. Detachment of cross-bridges

5. Reactivation of myosin
Who then takes care of the sarcoplasmic Ca+
ions so that the muscle can be relaxed
again?

Sarcoendoplasmic Reticulum Calcium ATPase (SERCA) pump acts to

transport calcium ions from the cytosol back to the sarcoplasmic
reticulum (SR) following muscle contraction.
Motor units in a skeletal muscle
To delay or prevent fatigue during a
sustained contraction involving only a
portion of a muscle’s motor units, as
is necessary in muscles supporting
the weight of the body against the
force of gravity, asynchronous
recruitment of motor units takes place.
The tension developed by each
contracting fiber is regulated by

1. Frequency of stimulation
2. Length of the fiber at the onset of
contraction
3. Extent of fatigue
4. Thickness of the fiber
Action Potential in skeletal muscle
Refractory period in skeletal muscle
Na+-K+ Pump to maintain resting
potential
 Relationship of an action potential to
the resultant muscle twitch
A single action potential in a
skeletal muscle fiber lasts only 1 to
2 msec. The onset of the resulting
contractile response lags behind
the action potential because the
entire excitation–contraction
coupling must occur before cross-
bridge activity begins. In fact, the
action potential is over before the
contractile apparatus even
becomes operational. This time
delay of a few milliseconds
between stimulation and onset of
contraction is called the latent
period
Twitch summation and tetanus
Length–tension relationship
There are three major types of muscle
fibers:

1. Slow-oxidative (type I) fibers

2. Fast oxidative-glycolytic (type IIa)
fibers
3. Fast-glycolytic (type IIx) fibers
 Muscle fiber types
(a) Comparison of the speed of contraction of
fast and slow muscle fiber types. (b) Cross
section of a human muscle showing the
distribution of slow-oxidative, fast-oxidative,
and fast-glycolytic muscle fiber types.
Motor activity can be classified as
reflex, voluntary, or rhythmic.

(i) Somatic reflex responses

(ii) Voluntary movements
(iii) Rhythmic activities
Proprioceptors are crucial to
position your muscle

Proprioceptors are found in

the joints and the muscles
themselves. They provide
information about the location
of body parts relative to one
another and about body
movement. Two types of muscle
proprioceptors—muscle spindles
and Golgi tendon organs
Muscle receptors