Skeletal muscle tissue and the Muscular System

Three types of muscle

Skeletal attached to bone
Cardiac found in the heart
Smooth lines hollow organs

Skeletal muscle functions

Produce skeletal movement

Maintain posture and body position
Support soft tissues
Guard entrances and exits
Maintain body temperature

Anatomy of Skeletal Muscle

Organization of connective tissues
Epimysium surrounds muscle
Perimysium sheathes bundles of muscle fibers
Epimysium and perimysium contain blood vessels and nerves
Endomysium covers individual muscle fibers
Tendons or aponeuroses attach muscle to bone or muscle

Skeletal muscle fibers

Sarcolemma (cell membrane)

Sarcoplasm (muscle cell cytoplasm)
Sarcoplasmic reticulum (modified ER)
T-tubules and myofibrils aid in contraction
Sarcomeres regular arrangement of myofibrils

Myofibrils
Thick and thin filaments
Organized regularly

Muscle Fiber
Thin filaments
F-actin
Nebulin
Tropomyosin

 Covers active sites on G-actin

Troponin
Binds to G-actin and holds tropomyosin in place

Thick filaments
Bundles of myosin fibers around titan core
Myosin molecules have elongate tail, globular head
Heads form cross-bridges during contraction
Interactions between G-actin and myosin prevented by tropomyosin
during rest

Sliding filament theory

Explains the relationship between thick and thin filaments as
contraction proceeds
Cyclic process beginning with calcium release from SR
Calcium binds to troponin
Trponin moves, moving tropomyosin and exposing actin active site
Myosin head forms cross bridge and bends toward H zone
ATP allows release of cross bridge

The Contraction of Skeletal Muscle

Tension
Created when muscles contract
Series of steps that begin with excitation at the neuromuscular
junction
Calcium release
Thick/thin filament interaction
Muscle fiber contraction
Tension

Control of skeletal muscle activity occurs at the neuromuscular

junction
Action potential arrives at synaptic terminal
ACh released into synaptic cleft
ACh binds to receptors on post-synaptic neuron
Action potential in sarcolemma

Excitation/contraction coupling
Action potential along T-tubule causes release of calcium from
cisternae of SR
Initiates contraction cycle
Attachment
Pivot
Detachment
Return

Relaxation
Acetylcholinesterase breaks down ACh
Limits the duration of contraction

Tension Production
Tension production by muscle fibers
All or none principle
Amount of tension depends on number of cross bridges formed
Skeletal muscle contracts most forcefully over a narrow ranges of
resting lengths
Twitch
Cycle of contraction, relaxation produced by a single stimulus
Treppe
Repeated stimulation after relaxation phase has been completed

Summation
Repeated stimulation before relaxation phase has been completed
Wave summation = one twitch is added to another
Incomplete tetanus = muscle never relaxes completely
Complete tetanus = relaxation phase is eleminated

Tension production by skeletal muscles

Internal tension generated inside contracting muscle fibers
External tension generated in extracellular fibers
Motor units
All the muscle fibers innervated by one neuron
Precise control of movement determined by number and size of
motor unit
Muscle tone

 Stabilizes bones and joints

Tension production by skeletal muscles

Internal tension generated inside contracting muscle fibers
External tension generated in extracellular fibers
Motor units
All the muscle fibers innervated by one neuron
Precise control of movement determined by number and size of
motor unit
Muscle tone
Stabilizes bones and joints

Contractions
Isometric
Tension rises, length of muscle remains constant
Isotonic
Tension rises, length of muscle changes
Resistance and speed of contraction inversely related
Return to resting lengths due to elastic components, contraction of
opposing muscle groups, gravity

Energy Use and Muscle Contraction

Muscle Contraction requires large amounts of energy
Creatine phosphate releases stored energy to convert ADP to ATP
Aerobic metabolism provides most ATP needed for contraction
At peak activity, anaerobic glycolysis needed to generate ATP

Energy use and level of muscular activity

Energy production and use patterns mirror muscle activity
Fatigued muscle no longer contracts
Build up of lactic acid
Exhaustion of energy resources

Recovery period
Begins immediately after activity ends
Oxygen debt (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption)

 Amount of oxygen required during resting period to restore muscle

to normal conditions

Muscle Performance
Types of skeletal muscle fibers
Fast fibers
Slow fibers
Intermediate fibers

Fast fibers

Large in diameter
Contain densely packed myofibrils
Large glycogen reserves
Relatively few mitochondria
Produce rapid, powerful contractions of short duration

Slow fibers

Half the diameter of fast fibers

Take three times as long to contract after stimulation
Abundant mitochondria
Extensive capillary supply
High concentrations of myoglobin
Can contract for long periods of time

Intermediate fibers
Similar to fast fibers
Greater resistance to fatigue

Muscle performance and the distribution of muscle fibers

Pale muscles dominated by fast fibers are called white muscles
Dark muscles dominated by slow fibers and myoglobin are called red
muscles
Training can lead to hypertrophy of stimulated muscle

Physical conditioning
Anaerobic endurance
Time over which muscular contractions are sustained by glycolysis
and ATP/CP reserves

 Aerobic endurance
Time over which muscle can continue to contract while supported
by mitochondrial activities

Cardiac Muscle Tissue

Structural characteristics of cardiac muscle
Located only in heart
Cardiac muscle cells are small
One centrally located nucleus
Short broad T-tubules
Dependent on aerobic metabolism
Intercalated discs where membranes contact one another

Functional characteristics of cardiac muscle tissue

Automaticity
Contractions last longer than skeletal muscle
Do not exhibit wave summation
No tetanic contractions possible

Smooth Muscle Tissue

Structural characteristics of smooth muscle
Nonstriated
Lack sarcomeres
Thin filaments anchored to dense bodies
Involuntary

Functional characteristics of smooth muscle

Contract when calcium ions interact with calmodulin
Activates myosin light chain kinase
Functions over a wide range of lengths
Plasticity
Multi-unit smooth muscle cells are innervated by more than one
motor neuron
Visceral smooth muscle cells are not always innervated by motor
neurons
Neurons that innervate smooth muscle are not under voluntary
control