Muscle Tissue

Muscle Tissue is one of the four types of adult tissue, and is divided into skeletal,
smooth and cardiac muscle. All of the muscle cells are elongated cells called
myofibres, and are made up of strands of myofibrils. All types of muscle use ATP
for their energy, turning chemical energy into mechanical energy (movement).
Histologically, muscle tissue is quite eosinophilic, due to the large quantity of
proteins in the cytoplasm.
The three types of muscle are all derived from the mesoderm, they can be either
striated (skeletal and cardiac) or non-striated (smooth muscle). Another important
difference is that skeletal muscle is voluntarily activated, whereas the cardiac and
smooth muscles are run by the autonomic nervous system, involuntarily.
Skeletal Muscle
Skeletal Muscle develops from myoblasts that fuse together to form a syncitium, a
multinucleated cell. The nuclei are located peripherally, contrasting to cardiac and
smooth that both have centrally placed nuclei.
A muscle (eg. biceps brachii) is composed of many muscle cells (myofibres) that
are organised in bundles called fascicles; these fascicles then make up a muscle.
Each individual myofibre is surrounded by connective tissue, called
endomysium. Fascicles are surrounded by perimysium and muscles are
surrounded by epimysium.
Connective Tissue has a special association with myofibres as it is what connects
the myofibres to the bone, this connection, called a tendon, is what allows
movement of a joint. The tendon is formed by the muscle cells coming to an end but
the endomysium, perimysium and epimysium thickening and connecting to the
bone.
Within each myofibre lie many strands called myofibrils. Myofibrils contain
myofilaments, contractile proteins organised in a regular pattern that give skeletal
muscle its striated appearance. The myofilaments can be divided into thick filaments
(myosin) and thin filaments (actin). The thin filaments attach to the Z Line.
Actin and Myosin are proteins that form myofilaments within the cell. The thin
filament is mainly actin, arranged in a double helix. The thick filaments are mainly
myosin and it appears like a series of golf clubs laid end to end. Muscle contraction
occurs by thick and thin filaments sliding over each other and therefore
shortening the sarcomere length.
Cardiac Muscle
Cardiac Muscle is also striated and derived from mesoderm, but are much different
to skeletal muscle. Notably, cardiac muscle has an inherent rhythmicity that is in
part controlled by the autonomic nervous system. They are highly resistant to fatigue
due to the mitochondria that make up over 50% of cell volume.
Cardiomyocytes have a single, centrally placed nucleus and are striated with a
branching structure, allowing many parallel cells to be joined together.
The cells are joined by intercalated discs, which have a longitudinal and transverse
component forming a series of steps through the cardiac muscle. The
transverse component of an intercalated disc is located at a Z Line, and contains
macula adherens and fascia adherens. The longitudinal component of the
intercalated disc contains gap junctions, allowing the cells to communicate and
pump in a coordinated manner. The arrangement of the myofibrils inside the
cardiomyocytes is not quite as linear as in skeletal muscle.
Smooth Muscle
Smooth Muscle cells are fusiform shaped with a cigar shaped nucleus. Smooth
muscle is generally found in a contractile area, transversely around a lumen. In
the gut, the smooth muscle runs both transversely and longitudinally. Transverse
and longitudinal sections of smooth muscle look very different and the transverse
sections can be hard to tell apart from other muscle transverse sections.
The smooth muscle is innervated by the autonomic nervous system, and gap
junctions and basal lamina attach the cells to each other. The contraction of
smooth muscle cells occurs by interaction between random actin and myosin
filaments present in smooth muscle cells. This contraction can only occur in the
presence of Calcium, which comes from the caveolae, which are pinocytic vesicles
attached to the smooth muscle membrane.
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Regeneration
Skeletal muscle can be repaired to a limited extent by the muscular satellite cells,
whereas cardiac muscle is even more limited in its repair, with very limited evidence
of any regeneration. Smooth Muscle can easily proliferate, repair and hypertrophy.