THE MUSCLE

• Muscular tissue contributes to homeostasis by producing body movements, moving

substances through the body, and producing heat to maintain normal body temperature.
• Motion results from the alternating contraction and relaxation of muscles, which make
up 40–50% of total adult body weight.
• Muscular strength reflects the primary function of muscle; the transformation of
chemical energy into mechanical energy to generate force, perform work, and produce
movement.
• The scientific study of muscles is known as myology.

Types of Muscles

The three types of muscular tissue: skeletal, cardiac, and smooth (in connective tissue).

Skeletal Muscles

• Skeletal muscles move bones of the skeleton.

• Striated
• Voluntary

`Cardiac Muscles

• Most of the heart wall.

• Straited
• Involuntary: auto rhythmicity

Smooth Muscles

• Located in the walls of hollow internal structures, such as blood vessels,

airways, and most organs in the abdominopelvic cavity.
• Non-striated
• Involuntary

Functions of Muscles

• Producing body movement.

• Stabilizing body positions: Standing, Sitting etc.
• Storing and moving substances within the body: Sphincters.
• Generating heat: Thermogenesis.

Properties of Muscles

• Electrical excitability: muscle respond to certain stimuli by producing electrical signals

from nerves.
• Contractility: ability of muscular tissue to contract forcefully when stimulated by an
action potential.
• Extensibility: ability of muscular tissue to stretch without being damaged.
• Elasticity: ability of muscular tissue to return to its original length and shape after
contraction or extension.

SKELETAL MUSCLES

• Each of your skeletal muscles is a separate organ composed of hundreds to thousands of

cells, which are called muscle fibers because of their elongated shapes.
• Thus, muscle cell and muscle fiber are two terms for the same structure.
• Connective Tissue Components
o Hypodermis: separates muscle from skin, areolar connective tissue & adipose tissue.
o Fascia: dense sheet or broad band of irregular connective tissue that lines the body
wall and limbs and supports and surrounds muscles and other organs of the body.
o Three layers of connective tissue extend from the fascia to protect and strengthen
skeletal muscle
▪ Epimysium: The outermost layer, encircling the entire muscle. Dense irregular
connective tissue.
▪ Perimysium: surrounds groups of 10 to 100 or more muscle fibers, separating
them into bundles called fascicles. Dense irregular connective tissue.
▪ Endomysium: separating individual muscle fibers from one another. areolar
connective tissue.
• Anatomy of Skeletal Muscle
o The diameter of a mature skeletal muscle fiber ranges from 10 to 100 micrometer.
o The typical length of a mature skeletal muscle fiber is about 10 cm (4 in.), although
some are as long as 30 cm (12 in.).
o Myoblast: Each mature skeletal muscle fiber has a hundred or more nuclei.
o Sarcolemma: the plasma membrane of a muscle cell.
o Transverse (T) tubules: Muscle action potentials travel along the sarcolemma and
through the T tubules, quickly spreading throughout the muscle fiber.
o Sarcoplasm: cytoplasm of a muscle fiber.
o Myoglobin: This protein, found only in muscle, binds oxygen molecules that diffuse
into muscle fibers from interstitial fluid.
Myofibrils and Sarcoplasmic Reticulum

o Myofibrils: the contractile organelles of skeletal muscle. Myofibrils are about 2

micrometer in diameter and extend the entire length of a muscle fiber.
o Sarcoplasmic reticulum: encircles each myofibril. This elaborate system is similar to
smooth endoplasmic reticulum in nonmuscular cells.
o Terminal cisterns: Dilated end sacs of the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
Filaments and the Sarcomere

▪ Filaments: Within myofibrils are smaller structures.

o Thin Filaments: 8 nenometer in diameter and 1–2 micrometer long.
o Thick Filaments: 16 nenometer in diameter and 1–2 micrometer long.
o Both thin and thick filaments are directly involved in the contractile process.
▪ Sarcomeres: basic functional units of a myofibril. Thin and Thick are arranged in
compartments.

▪
Muscle Proteins

Myofibrils are built from three kinds of proteins:

1. Contractile proteins
a. Myosin: In skeletal muscle, about 300 molecules of myosin form a single thick
filament.
b. Actin: Thin filaments are anchored to Z discs.
2. Regulatory Proteins: in thin filaments
a. Tropomyosin: cover the myosin-binding sites on actin.
b. Troponin: calcium ions (Ca2+) bind.
3. Structural Proteins
a. Titin: connects a Z disc to the M line of the sarcomere. stabilize the position of
the thick filament.
b. Alpha-actinin: bind to actin molecules of the thin filament and to titin.
c. Myomesin: M line proteins bind to titin and connect adjacent thick filaments to
one another.
d. Nebulin: nonelastic protein wrapped around the entire length of each thin
filament. Regulates the length of thin filaments during development.
e. Dystrophin: cytoskeletal protein that links thin filaments of the sarcomere to
integral membrane proteins of the sarcolemma.
The Contraction Cycle

At the onset of contraction, the sarcoplasmic reticulum releases calcium ions (Ca2) into the
cytosol. There, they bind to troponin. Troponin then moves tropomyosin away from the myosin
binding sites on actin. Once the binding sites are “free,” the contraction cycle; the repeating
sequence of events that causes the filaments to slide begins. The contraction cycle consists of
four steps:

1. ATP hydrolysis.
2. Attachment of myosin to actin to form crossbridges.
3. Power stroke.
4. Detachment of myosin from actin.
The neuromuscular Junction

▪ The neurons that stimulate skeletal muscle fibers to contract are called somatic motor
neurons.
▪ Each somatic motor neuron has a threadlike axon that extends from the brain or spinal
cord to a group of skeletal muscle fibers.
▪ A muscle fiber contracts in response to one or more action potentials propagating along
its sarcolemma and through its system of T tubules.
▪ Muscle action potentials arise at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), the synapse
between a somatic motor neuron and a skeletal muscle fiber.
▪ At the NMJ, the end of the motor neuron, called the axon terminal, divides into a cluster
of synaptic end bulbs.
▪ Suspended in the cytosol within each synaptic end bulb are hundreds of membrane-
enclosed sacs called synaptic vesicles.
▪ Inside each synaptic vesicle are thousands of molecules of acetylcholine, abbreviated
ACh, the neurotransmitter released at the NMJ.
▪ A nerve impulse (nerve action potential) elicits a muscle action potential in the
following way:
o Release of acetylcholine.
o Activation of ACh receptors.
o Production of muscle action potential.
o Termination of ACh activity.
Muscle Metabolism

▪ However, the ATP present inside muscle fibers is enough to power contraction for only
a few seconds.
▪ If strenuous exercise continues past that time, the muscle fibers must make more ATP.
Muscle fibers have three ways to produce ATP:
1. From creatine phosphate: The excess ATP is used to synthesize creatine
phosphate, an energy-rich molecule that is found only in muscle fibers. Creatine
phosphate and ATP provide enough energy for muscles to contract maximally for
about 15 seconds. 100-meter dash.
2. By anaerobic cellular respiration: ATP-producing reactions that do not require
oxygen. When muscle activity continues and the supply of creatine phosphate
within the muscle fiber is depleted, glucose is catabolized to generate ATP. Glucose
easily passes from the blood into contracting muscle fibers via facilitated diffusion,
and it is also produced by the breakdown of glycogen within muscle fibers. 30 to
40 seconds, 400 meter race.
3. By aerobic cellular respiration: Muscular activity that lasts longer than half a
minute depends increasingly. A series of oxygen-requiring reactions that produce
ATP in mitochondria. Muscle tissue has two sources of oxygen: (1) oxygen that
diffuses into muscle fibers from the blood and (2) oxygen released by myoglobin
within muscle fibers. In activities that last more than 10 minutes, the aerobic system
provides more than 90% of the needed ATP. Marathon race.

Muscle Fatigue: The inability of a muscle to maintain force of contraction after prolonged
activity because of decline of Ca2+ concentration in the sarcoplasm, Depletion of creatine
phosphate, muscle fatigue includes insufficient oxygen, depletion of glycogen and other
nutrients, buildup of lactic acid and ADP, and failure of action potentials in the motor neuron
to release enough acetylcholine.
Muscle Tone

A skeletal muscle exhibits muscle tone (tension), a small amount of tautness or tension in the
muscle due to weak, involuntary contractions of its motor units.

Types of muscle contraction

▪ Isotonic Contraction: The tension (force of contraction) developed by the muscle

remains almost constant while the muscle changes its length. The two types of isotonic
contractions are concentric and eccentric.
o Concentric isotonic contraction: If the tension generated is great enough to
overcome the resistance of the object to be moved, the muscle shortens and pulls
on another structure, such as a tendon, to produce movement and to reduce the
angle at a joint.
o Eccentric isotonic contraction: When the length of a muscle increases during
a contraction.
▪ Isometric contraction: The tension generated is not enough to exceed the resistance
of the object to be moved, and the muscle does not change its length.
Types of Skeletal Muscle fibers

▪ Slow oxidative fibers: smallest in diameter and thus are the least powerful type of
muscle fibers. aerobic cellular respiration.
▪ Fast Oxidative-Glycolytic Fibers: intermediate in diameter between the other two
types of fibers. aerobic cellular respiration.
▪ Fast Glycolytic Fibers: largest in diameter and contain the most myofibrils. These fast-
twitch fibers are adapted for intense anaerobic movements of short duration, such as
weight lifting or throwing a ball, but they fatigue quickly.

Cardiac Muscles

▪ The principal tissue in the heart wall is cardiac muscle tissue.

▪ Straited & involuntary.
▪ Autorhythmic muscle.
▪ Between the layers of cardiac muscle fibers, the contractile cells of the heart, are sheets
of connective tissue that contain blood vessels, nerves, and the conduction system of
the heart.
▪ Cardiac muscle fibers have the same arrangement of actin and myosin and the same
bands, zones, and Z discs as skeletal muscle fibers.
▪ Cardiac muscle tissue has an endomysium and perimysium, but lacks an epimysium.
▪ In response to a single action potential, cardiac muscle tissue remains contracted 10 to
15 times longer than skeletal muscle tissue.
▪ Cardiac muscle tissue contracts when stimulated by its own autorhythmic muscle fibers.
▪ Under normal resting conditions, cardiac muscle tissue contracts and relaxes about 75
times a minute.
▪ The mitochondria in cardiac muscle fibers are larger and more numerous than in
skeletal muscle fibers.
▪ Cardiac muscle fibers can also use lactic acid produced by skeletal muscle fibers to
make ATP, a benefit during exercise.

Smooth Muscles
▪ Like cardiac muscle tissue, smooth muscle
tissue is usually activated involuntarily.
▪ Autorhythmic Muscles
▪ Visceral (single-unit) smooth muscle
tissue: More common type. It is found in
tubular arrangements that form part of the
walls of small arteries and veins and of
hollow organs such as the stomach,
intestines, uterus, and urinary bladder.
▪ Multiunit smooth muscle tissue: consists
of individual fibers, each with its own motor
neuron terminals and with few gap junctions
between neighbouring fibers.

Anatomy of Smooth Muscles

▪ A single relaxed smooth muscle fiber is 30–200 micrometer long.

▪ The sarcoplasm of smooth muscle fibers contains both thick filaments and thin
filaments, in ratios between 1:10 and 1:15, but they are not arranged in orderly
sarcomeres as in striated muscle.
▪ lack transverse tubules
▪ Unlike striated muscle fibers, smooth muscle fibers can stretch considerably and still
maintain their contractile function. When smooth muscle fibers are stretched, they
initially contract, developing increased tension. Within a minute or so, the tension
decreases. This phenomenon, which is called the stress–relaxation response, allows
smooth muscle to undergo great changes in length while retaining the ability to contract
effectively.
▪ Thus, even though smooth muscle in the walls of blood vessels and hollow organs such
as the stomach, intestines, and urinary bladder can stretch, the pressure on the contents
within them changes very little. After the organ empties, the smooth muscle in the wall
rebounds, and the wall retains its firmness.
Regeneration of Muscular Tissues

Hypertrophy: enlargement of existing cells.

Hyperplasia: increase in the number of fibers.