Scribd
Upload
54 views4 pages

2022 Week 2 Lecture A Muscle

This document summarizes the key functions and components of the muscular system. It discusses that there are three types of muscles - cardiac, smooth, and skeletal - which differ in their structure, location, function and means of activation. Skeletal muscle tissue is composed of thousands of muscle fibers bundled together by connective tissue. Each muscle fiber contains myofibrils which are made up of repeating contractile units called sarcomeres. Contraction occurs when calcium ions trigger myosin heads to bind to actin filaments and slide them, shortening the sarcomere.

Uploaded by

heather
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
54 views4 pages

2022 Week 2 Lecture A Muscle

This document summarizes the key functions and components of the muscular system. It discusses that there are three types of muscles - cardiac, smooth, and skeletal - which differ in their structure, location, function and means of activation. Skeletal muscle tissue is composed of thousands of muscle fibers bundled together by connective tissue. Each muscle fiber contains myofibrils which are made up of repeating contractile units called sarcomeres. Contraction occurs when calcium ions trigger myosin heads to bind to actin filaments and slide them, shortening the sarcomere.

Uploaded by

heather
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Muscular System A

Dr Angela Owens
Recording 1
Functions

 Movement and stability


Tendons pull on bones
Pump blood or propel substances (food, faeces)

 Heat generation
Generates ~30% of body heat at rest
Enzyme function (metabolism)

 Glycaemic control
Absorbs large share of glucose and stores as glycogen (10 h supply)

 Influence other organs (crosstalk)


Upon exercise release myokines
Mitochondria increase in number and function

 Control of body openings and passages


e.g., sphincter muscles

 Intramuscular injection site


Gluteus medius (thick and very vascular)

Three types
1) Cardiac
2) Smooth
3) Skeletal
 Differ in structure, location, function and means of activation
 Skeletal and smooth muscle CELLS are elongated and are called muscle FIBRES
(FIBERS)

Skeletal muscle tissue


 Packaged into skeletal muscles that attach to and cover the bony skeleton
 Stripes called STRIATIONS
 Controlled VOLUNTARILY
 ~40% of male body weight
Skeletal muscles
 Composed of 1000’s of muscle fibres surrounded and bundled by fibrous connective
tissue
 Connective tissue limits the range of extensibility (stretch) and keeps it within the
contractile range of the muscle cells to avoid injury

Connective tissue layers

 Endomysium
encloses single muscle fibre, blood vessels and nerves, electrically insulates each fibre

 Perimysium
bundles 10-100 muscle fibres into a fascicle (grainy appearance of meat), vascular

 Epimysium
covers entire muscle
 Arrangement of fascicles determines the structural and functional properties of a
skeletal muscle

Connective tissue
 Continuous with collagen fibres of tendons which continuous with those of periosteum

▪ Muscle contracts, pulls on collagen, moves bone

▪ Collagen extensible and elastic (recoil)

▪ Thus, tendon resists overstretching and protects muscle

 Deep fascia

▪ Separates individual muscles

▪ External to epimysium

 Superficial fascia (hypodermis)

▪ Separates muscles from skin


Recording 2
Muscle cells
Skeletal muscle fibres
 Cylindrical, ~3 cm long
 Multiple nuclei (DNA) under sarcolemma (plasma membrane) makes fibre unable to
divide (repair limited)
 Sarcoplasm (cytoplasm) contains glycogen (glucose) and oxygen-binding protein called
MYOGLOBIN
 Usual organelles (e.g., mitochondria), but also

▪ Sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR)

▪ T (transverse) tubules

▪ Myofibrils (30 to 1,000’s per muscle fibre)

Sarcoplasmic reticulum
 Smooth endoplasmic reticulum that runs longitudinally and surrounds each myofibril
(Like sleeve of a lacy shirt over an arm)
 SR sacs (cisterna) store calcium ions (Ca2+)

T Tubules
 Tunnel-like infoldings of sarcolemma
 Conduct electrical impulses into interior of muscle fibre
 These trigger release of Ca2+ from SR
 This Ca2+ triggers muscle to contract

Myofibrils
 Are densely packed, rod-like, contractile organelles IN a muscle fibre (cell)
 Precise arrangement generates the repeating series of dark A bands and light I bands
 Aligned like cigarettes in a packet
 Myofibrils are chains of contractile units called sarcomeres (train carriages, segments)
Sarcomere
 Each sarcomere shortens by the sliding and overlapping of special proteins within it
 A sarcomere is the region between two successive Z discs
 Z-discs are a sheet of proteins

▪ Anchor point for the special proteins called Myosin and Actin that slide

Sarcomere
MYOSIN (Thick filaments)
extend entire length of dark A band
ACTIN (Thin filaments)
extend across light I band and partway into dark A band and are attached to the Z
discs

Myosin filaments
 Made up of several hundred myosin molecules
 Each MYOSIN molecule is like a golf club with a rod-like tail and two heads (cross
bridges)
 Held in cocked position (bent elbow, mouse trap)

Actin filaments
 Two strands of intertwined actin molecules
 Contain

▪ Binding sites for Myosin heads

▪ Proteins TROPOMYOSIN and TROPONIN that regulate binding of Myosin heads


to Actin

Sliding filament model (1954)


 In relaxed state, Actin and Myosin filaments overlap only slightly (Z discs far apart)
 Upon stimulation, hundreds of Myosin heads bind to Actin and ‘crawl’ along each thin
filament (millipede)
 This causes the Actin filaments to slide and overlap the Myosin filaments a lot which
shortens the sarcomere (Z discs closer together)
 Each Myosin head binds and detaches several times during contraction

You might also like