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MC 1: ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY (THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM)

Doc. Mabel Bitgue | November 03, 2023

THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM

 Some skeletal muscles attach to the skin or
Types of Muscles: connective tissue sheets.
Skeletal  Skeletal muscle is also called striated muscle
 Attached to the bones because transverse bands, or striations, can
 Striated be seen in the muscle under the microscope.
 Voluntary controlled
Cardiac CONNECTIVE TISSUE COVERINGS
 Located in the heart  Each skeletal muscle is surrounded by a
 Striated connective tissue sheath called the
 Involuntary controlled epimysium.
Smooth
 A skeletal muscle is subdivided into groups of
 Located in the blood vessels, hollow organs muscle cells, termed fascicles.
 Non-striated
 Each fascicle is surrounded by a connective
 Involuntary tissue covering, termed the perimysium.
FUNCTIONS OF THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM:  Each skeletal muscle cell (fiber) is surrounded
by a connective tissue covering, termed
endomysium.
SKELETAL MUSCLE FIBER ANATOMY
 A muscle fiber is a large cell, with several
1. Movement
hundred nuclei located at its periphery.
2. Maintain posture
 Muscle fiber range in length 1mm to 30cm.
3. Respiration
 Alternating light and dark bands give muscle
4. Production of body
fibers a striated appearance.
heat
 The number of muscle fiber remains constant
5. Communication
after birth so enlargement of muscle results
6. Constriction of
from an increase in to size of muscle fiber, not
organ and vessels
an increase in fiber number.
7. Contraction of the
heart ELECTRICAL COMPONENT STRUCTURES

FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF THE MUSCLE:

 Contractility – the ability of muscle to shorten
forcefully, contract.
 Excitability – the capacity of muscle to
respond to a stimulus.
 Extensibilty - the ability to be stretched
beyond its normal resting length and still be
able to contract.
 Elasticity - the ability of the muscle to recoil to
its original resisting length after it has been
stretched.
WHOLE SKELETAL MUSCLE ANATOMY  The sarcolemma (cell membrane) has many
tubelike inward folds, called transverse tubules,
 Skeletal muscle, or striated muscle, with its or T tubules.
associated connective tissue, constitute  T tubules occur at regular intervals along the
approximately 40% body weight. muscle fiber and extend into the center of the
 Skeletal muscle is also so named because of muscle fiber.
the muscles are attached to the skeletal  The T tubules are associated with enlarged
system. portions of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum
called the sarcoplasmic reticulum.

1|BSN 1 - F
RTRMF-CN | BSN - 1F
MC 1: ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY (THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM)
Doc. Mabel Bitgue | November 03, 2023

 The enlarged portions are called terminal

cisternae.  Actin myofilaments are made up of three
 Two terminal cisternae and their associated T components: actin, troponin, and
tubule form a muscle triad. tropomyosin.
 the sarcoplasmic reticulum has a relatively  Troponin molecules have binding sites for
high concentration of Ca , which plays a major
2+
Ca2+ and tropomyosin filaments block the
role in muscle contraction. myosin myofilament binding sites on the actin
 The cytoplasm of a muscle fiber is called the myofilaments.
sarcoplasm which contains many bundles of  Tropomyosin acts as the villain in the love
protein filaments. story of Actin and Myosin.
MECHANICAL COMPONENT STRUCTURES  Myosin filaments, or thick myofilaments,
resemble bundles of tiny golf clubs.
 Bundles of protein filaments are called  Myosin head have ATP binding sites, ATPase
myofibrils and attachment spots for actin.
 Myofibrils consist of two types of
myofilaments, actin (thin filaments) and NEUROMUSCULAR JUNCTION STRUCTURE
myosin (thick filaments).
 Actin and myosin are arranged into repeating
units called sarcomeres.
 The myofilaments in the sarcomere provide for
the mechanical aspect of the muscle
contraction.

THE SARCOMERE

 The sarcomere is the basic structural and

functional unit of skeletal muscle.
 Sarcomeres join end to end to create
myofibrils.
 Z disks are network of protein fibers that
serves as an anchor for actin myofilaments
and separate one sarcomere from the next.
 A sarcomere extends from one Z disk to the  A motor neuron is a nerve cell that stimulates
next Z disk muscle cells.
 These Z disks hold the actin myofilaments.  A neuromuscular junction is a synapse
 The organization of actin and myosin where a neuron connects with a muscle fiber.
myofilaments give skeletal muscle its striated  A synapse refers to the cell-to-cell junction
appearance and gives it the ability to contract. between a nerve cell or an effector cell such
 The myofilaments slide past each other,
as in a muscle gland.
causing the sarcomeres to shorten.
 Each sarcomere consists of two light-staining  A motor unit is a group of muscle fibers that a
bands separated by a dark-staining band. single motor neuron stimulates.
 A presynaptic terminal is the end of a neuron
MYOFILAMENT STRUCTURE cell axon fiber.
 A synaptic cleft is the space between the
presynaptic terminal and postsynaptic
membrane.
 The postsynaptic membrane is the muscle
fiber membrane (sarcolemma).
 A synaptic vesicle is a vesicle in the
presynaptic terminal that stores and releases
neurotransmitter chemicals.
 Neurotransmitters are chemicals that
stimulate or inhibit postsynaptic cells.
 Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter that
stimulates skeletal muscles

2|BSN 1 - F
RTRMF-CN | BSN - 1F
MC 1: ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY (THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM)
Doc. Mabel Bitgue | November 03, 2023

SLIDING FILAMENT MODEL

Keep in mind that the ion with the most
 When a muscle contracts, the actin and number of molecules inside the cell is
myosin myofilaments in the sarcomere slide Potassium. On the other hand, the ion
past one another at shorten the sarcomere. with the most number of molecules
 When sarcomeres shorten, myofibrils, muscle outside the cell is Sodium.
fibers, muscle fascicles, and muscle all b. The presence of many negatively
shorten to produce muscle contraction. charged molecules, such as proteins,
 During muscle relaxation, sarcomeres inside the cell that are too large to exit
lengthen. the cell.
This is the love story of Actin and Myosin. c. The presence of leak channels in the
membrane that are more permeable to
K+ that they are to Na+.
EXCITABILITY OF MSUCLE FIBERS So, once the sodium goes inside the
 Muscle fibers are electrically excitable. cellular leak, the potassium will then go
 Electrically excitable cells are polarized. out of the cell.
 The inside of the cell membrane is negatively ACTION POTENTIALS
charged compared with the outside.
 An action potential reverses the resting
 A voltage difference, or electrical charge
membrane potential so that the inside of the
difference, exist across each cell membrane.
cell becomes positive and the outside
 The charge difference is due to differences in negative.
concentrations of ions on either side of the
 Occurs because the gated ion channels open
membrane.
when the cell is stimulated.
ION CHANNELS  The diffusion of ions through this channel
changes the charge across the cell membrane
 The phospholipid bilayer is impermeable to
and produces an action potential.
ions.
 Action potential lasts for 1 to 3 milliseconds.
 Two types of membrane proteins, called ion
 The entry of Na+ causes the inside of the cell
channel, permit ions to pass through the
membrane become more positive than when
membrane.
the cell is at resting membrane potential.
 Leak Channels allow the slow leak of ions
 This increase in positive charge inside the cell
down their concentration gradient.
membrane called depolarization.
 Gated channels may open or close in
 if the depolarization changes the membrane
response to various types of stimuli.
potential to the value called threshold, an
RESTING MEMBRANE POTENTIAL action potential is triggered.
 - Depolarization has a limit.
 The electrical charge difference across the cell
membrane of an unstimulated cell called the  - If it is unable to reach the amount of sodium
resting membrane potential (RMP). that enters the cell, it will not be stimulated.
Thus, it really needs a threshold to limit the
 Muscle cell (fibers) have a resting membrane
number of sodium entering the cell in order to
potential can also perform action potentials.
activate an action potential.
 Do you recall the video earlier where there
 An action potential is a rapid change in charge
was a walk-through of the neuron’s action
across the cell membrane.
potential? It serves as electricity that travels in
order for our muscles to move.  The action potential travels across the
sarcolemma.
 The resting membrane potential is due to the
inside of the membrane being negatively  Near the end if depolarization, the positive
charged in comparison of the outside of the charge cause gated Na+ channels to close the
membrane which is positively charged. gated K+ channels to open.
 Action potentials are due to the membrane  So depolarization, sodium going inside of the
having gate channels. cell, while repolarization, potassium going out
of the cell.
 The action potential starts once sodium enters
the cell.  There are three (3) sodium ions that goes into
the cell, and two (2) potential ions that goes
 The resting membrane potential exist because
out of the cell, thus producing an action
of:
potential.
a. The concentration of K+ being higher
on the inside of the cell membrane  Opening of gated K+ channels starts
and the concentration of Na+ being repolarization of the cell membrane.
higher on the outside.

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RTRMF-CN | BSN - 1F
MC 1: ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY (THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM)
Doc. Mabel Bitgue | November 03, 2023

 repolarization is due to the exit of K+ from the

cell.
 The outward diffusion of K+ returns the cell to FUNCTION OF NEUROMUSCULAR JUNCTION
its resting membrane conditions and the action
potential ends.
 In a muscle fiber, an action potential results in
muscle construction
DEPOLARIZATION

 Each muscle fiber is innervated by a branch of

a motor neuron at a neuromuscular junction.
 Contact between the axon terminal and the
sarcolemma results in an action potential in
the muscle fiber which, in turn, stimulates to
Change in charges inside becomes more + and fiber contract.
outside more – Na+ channels open.  The action potential is stimulated by the
release of acetylcholine from the motor neuron.
MUSCLE CONTRACTION
1. An action potential travels down the motor
ION CHANNELS AND ACTION POTENTIALS neuron to the presynaptic terminal.
2. The action potential causes Ca2+ channels to
open and Ca2+ to enter the terminal.
3. Ca2+ causes synaptic vesicles to release
acetylcholine to synaptic cleft.
4. Acetylcholine opens Na+ channels in the
sarcolemma and causes an action potential.
5. The action potential travels along the entire
sarcolemma.
6. The action potential moves down T tubules.
7. Action potentials open gated Ca2 channels in
the sarcoplasmic reticulum which releases
stored calcium.
SKELETAL MUSCLE EXCITATION

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RTRMF-CN | BSN - 1F
MC 1: ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY (THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM)
Doc. Mabel Bitgue | November 03, 2023

CROSS BRIDGE MOVEMENT

The mechanical of muscle construction is
called cross-bridge cycling.
 The energy from one ATP molecule from one
cross bridge cycle.
MUSCLE RELAXATION
 Muscle relaxation occurs when acetylcholine
in no longer released at the neuromuscular
junction.
 Action potentials to the sarcoplasmic reticulum
stop.
 Ca2+ is actively transported back into the
sarcoplasmic reticulum using energy supplied
by ATP.

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