ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY (LECTURE) MUSCULAR SYSTEM MIDTERMS PART 1/4

MUSCULAR SYSTEM  Fascia- Layers of dense CT, surround and

separate each muscle.
 Epimysium- is the outer layer, encircling the
Copyright: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. entire muscle. Dense irregular CT.
Permission required for reproduction or display.  Perimysium- Dense irregular CT., but it
surrounds groups of 10 to 100 or more muscle
Introduction: fibers, separating them into bundles called
A. All movements require using chemical energy fascicles
to contract.  Endomysium- penetrates the interior of each
B. 3 Types: skeletal, smooth, and cardiac fascicle and separates individual muscle fibers
from one another, mostly reticular fibers.
Properties of Muscle Tissues:
1. Electrical excitability
 ability to respond to certain stimuli by producing
electrical signals called action potentials
(impulses)/muscle action potentials
 Two main stimuli trigger action potentials:
a. autorhythmic electrical signals arising in the
muscular tissue itself, as in the heart’s pacemaker.
b. chemical stimuli, such as neurotransmitters
released by neurons, hormones distributed by the
blood, or even local changes in pH.

2. Contractility
 ability of muscular tissue to contract forcefully
when stimulated by an action potential. Study Analogy:
 generates tension (force of contraction) Pretend you are going to play a joke on someone and
 develops tension (force of contraction) but does give them 100 pencils. The pencils will represent
not shorten. muscle fibers. First you wrap each individual pencil
 an example is holding/lifting a book. in tissue paper (dense tissue paper). This would be
endomysium. Then you take about 10 pencils in a
3. Extensibility bundle (a fascicle) and wrap them in paper
 ability of muscular tissue to stretch, within limits. (perimysium). After that you take all the bundles
 connective tissue within the muscle limits the and wrap them in gift wrap (epimysium). But you
range of extensibility and keeps it within the are going to mail this joke, so you also have to wrap
contractile range of the muscle cells. it in brown paper representing the fascia.
 smooth muscle is subject to the greatest amount
of stretching. C. Skeletal Muscle Fibers
 For example, stomach, uterus, etc. 1. Each MF is a single, long, cylindrical muscle cell.
2. Beneath is the sarcolemma (cell membrane) lies
4. Elasticity sarcoplasm (cytoplasm) with many mitochondria
 is the ability of muscular tissue to return to its and nuclei; the sarcoplasm contains myofibrils.
original length and shape after contraction or a. Thick filaments of myofibrils are made up of the
extension. protein myosin.
b. Thin filaments = actin.
c. The organization of these filaments produces
Structure of a Skeletal Muscle: striations.
A. Each muscle is an organ, comprised of tissue,
CT, nervous tissue, and blood.
B. CONNECTIVE TISSUE COVERINGS STRIATIONS:
 A Band- darker middle part of the sarcomere
extending the entire length of the thick filaments
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ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY (LECTURE) MUSCULAR SYSTEM MIDTERMS PART 1/4
 I Band - lighter, less dense area that contains the
rest of the thin filaments but no thick filaments;
area that includes part of 2 adjacent sarcomeres
 H Zone- narrow zone in the center of each A
band containing ONLY thick filaments
 M Line- middle of the sarcomere; which is made
up of supporting proteins that hold the thick
filaments together at the center of the H zone

Skeletal Muscle Contraction

A. Involves several components that result in the
shortening of sarcomeres, and the pulling of the
muscle against its attachments.
B. ROLE OF MYOSIN AND ACTIN:
1. Myosin consists of two twisted strands with
globular cross-bridges projected outward along the
strands.
2. Actin is a globular protein with myosin binding
sites; tropomysosin and troponin are two proteins
associated with the surface of the actin filaments.

D. Neuromuscular Junction
 The site where the motor neuron and muscle fiber
meet

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ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY (LECTURE) MUSCULAR SYSTEM MIDTERMS PART 1/4
C. STIMULUS FOR CONTRACTION
1. Motor neuron releases the neurotransmitter
acetylcholine and acetylcholinesterase
2. Upon receipt of the muscle impulse, the
sarcoplasmic reticulum releases its stored Ca to the
sarcoplasm of the muscle fiber.
3. The high concentration of Ca in the sarcoplasm
interacts with the troponin and tropomyosin
molecules.
Myosin cross-bridges now bind and pull on
the actin filaments, causing the sarcomeres to
shorten.
4. After the nervous impulse has been received,
acetylcholinesterase rapidly decomposes the
Acetylcholine. Acetylcholine (Ach) Starts Contraction
5. Then, calcium is returned to the sarcoplasmic
 What will happen if Ach receptors are
reticulum, and the linkages between myosin and
destroyed?
actin are broken.

 What will happen if you block

acetylcholinesterase?

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ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY (LECTURE) MUSCULAR SYSTEM MIDTERMS PART 1/4
3. A muscle cramp occurs due to a lack of ATP
required to return calcium ions back to the
sarcoplasmic reticulum so muscle fibers can relax.
F. Heat Production
 Contraction of skeletal muscle represents an
important source of heat for the body.

SMOOTH MUSCLES:
A. Smooth Muscle Fibers
 elongated with tapered ends,
 lack striations and
CONTRACTION:  undeveloped sarcoplasmic reticulum
B. 2 TYPES OF SMOOTH MUSCLES.
a. In multiunit smooth muscle, blood vessels and iris
of the eye
b. Visceral smooth muscle- walls of hollow organs;
responsible for peristalsis

CARDIAC MUSCLE:
A. The mechanism of contraction in cardiac muscle
is essentially the same as that for skeletal and smooth
muscle, but with some differences.
B. Cardiac muscle has transverse tubules that supply
extra calcium, and can thus contract for longer
SUMMARY OF THE SLIDING periods.
FILAMENT THEORY:
1. HYDROLYSIS OF ATP MAJOR SKELETAL MUSCLES:
2. CROSSBRIDGING A. Muscles are named according to any of the
3. POWERSTROKE following criteria: size, shape, location, action,
4. DETACHMENT OF MYOSIN HEAD FROM number of attachments, or direction of its fibers.
ACTIN

RIGOR MORTIS
–after death, cellular membranes become leaky:
calcium leaks out allowing the myosin heads to bind
to actin
–cessation of ATP generation so crossbridges cannot
detach from the actin
–begins 3-4 hours after death and lasts for 24 hours

D. Oxygen Debt
Oxygen deficiency may develop during strenuous
exercise, and lactic acid accumulates as an end
product.
a. Lactic acid diffuses out of muscle cells and is
carried in the bloodstream to the liver.
E. Muscle Fatigue
1. When a muscle loses its ability to contract during
strenuous exercise, it is referred to as fatigue.
2. Muscle fatigue usually arises from the
accumulation of lactic acid in the muscle.

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ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY (LECTURE) MUSCULAR SYSTEM MIDTERMS PART 1/4

How Skeletal Muscles Are Named:

 combinations of the word roots of their
distinctive features.
 muscle features, such as the pattern of the
muscle’s fascicles; the size, shape, action,
number of origins, and location of the muscle;
and the sites of origin and insertion of the muscle.

*Agonist- muscle that provides the major force to

complete the movement; known as the prime
movers; example: bicep curl (flexion)- agonist is the
biceps
*Antagonist- a muscle that opposes the action of
another

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ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY (LECTURE) MUSCULAR SYSTEM MIDTERMS PART 1/4
*Synergist- muscle that stabilizes a joint around
which movement is occurring, which in turn helps
the agonist function effectively; also help to create
the movement

COMPARISON OF MUSCLE TYPES

FEATURE Skeletal Cardiac Smooth

Location Attached to Heart Walls of hollow

bones organs, blood
vessels and
glands

Appearance: Long, Branched Spindle-shaped

Cell Shape cylindrical

Nucleus Multiple, Usually single, Single, central

peripheral central
Striations Yes Yes No

Autorhythmicity No Yes Yes

Control Voluntary Involuntary Involuntary

Function Move the Heart Compression of

whole body contraction to organs, ducts,
propel blood tubes, etc
through the
body
Sarcoplasmic Abundant Some Scanty
reticulum

Speed of Fast Moderate Slow

contraction
Cell junctions None Intercalated Gap junction in
discs contain visceral smooth
gap junctions muscles;
and 59
desmosomes