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Muscular System
→ The essential function of muscle is to contract,
or shorten—a unique characteristic that sets it
apart from other body tissues.
→ As a result of this ability, muscles are
responsible for all body movements.

Muscle Types

Skeletal Cardiac

Smooth

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Skeletal Muscle
→ Skeletal muscle fibers are attach to the skeleton.
→ Covers our bone and the cartilage framework helps
form the smooth contours of the body.
→ Largest muscle fibers with some ranging up to 30 cm
(nearly 1 foot) in length.

Key words to remember:

• Skeletal - attached to bones
• Striated - fibers have obvious stripes
• Voluntary - type of muscle subject to conscious control

Each skeletal muscle is surrounded by a connective

tissue sheath called the epimysium or muscular
fascia.

Each whole muscle is subdivided by a loose connective

tissue called the perimysium into numerous visible
bundles called fasciculi.

Each fascicle is then subdivided by a loose connective

tissue called the endomysium into separate muscle
cells, called muscle fibers.

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Smooth Muscle
→ Found mainly in the walls of hollow (tubelike)
visceral organs.
→ Smooth muscle propels substances along a pathway.
→ Smooth muscle contraction is slow and sustained.

Key words to remember:

• Visceral
• Nonstraited
• Involuntary

Cardiac Muscle
→ Found only in the heart, where it forms the bulk of
the heart walls.
→ Cardiac cells are cushioned by small amounts of
endomysium and are arranged in spiral or figure 8-
shaped bundles.
→ Cardiac muscle fibers are branching cells joined by
special gap junctions called intercalated discs.

Key words to remember:

• Cardiac
• Straited
• Involuntary

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Muscular System Major Functions

1. Movement of the body – contraction of skeletal muscles is responsible for
the overall movements of the body.
2. Maintenance of posture – skeletal muscles constantly maintain tone.
3. Respiration – muscles of the thorax carry out movements necessary for
respiration.
4. Production of body heat – when skeletal muscle contract, heat is given off as
by-product.
5. Communication – speaking, writing, typing, gesturing, and facial expressions.
6. Constriction of organs and vessels – help propel and mix food and water
in GI tract, propel secretions from organs, and regulate blood flow through vessels.
7. Contraction of the heart – causes the heart to beat, propelling blood to all
parts of the body.

Microscopic Anatomy of Skeletal Muscle

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Microscopic Anatomy of Skeletal Muscle

Muscle Fiber Structure
• Sarcolemma is the cell membrane of the muscle fiber.
multiple nuclei are located just deep to the sarcolemma.
• Transverse tubules or T-tubules are many tube-like
invaginations located along the surface of sarcolemma.
• Associated with highly organized smooth endoplasmic reticulum
called the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
• The T-tubules connect the sarcolemma to the sarcoplasmic
reticulum. The sarcoplasmic reticulum has a relatively high
concentration of Ca+, which plays a major role in muscle
contraction.
• Sarcoplasm is inside part of each muscle fiber.
• It contains numerous myofibrils, threadlike
structures that extend from one end of the
muscle fiber to the other.
• Myofibrils consist of two major kinds of
protein fibers:
1. Actin (thin) myofilaments
2. Myosin (thick) myofilaments
• The actin and myosin myofilaments are
arranged into a highly ordered, repeating
units called sarcomeres, which are joined
end-to-end to form the myofibrils.

Actin and Myosin Myofilaments

Actin (thin) Myofilaments
Three components:
1. Actin – resemble two minute strands of pearls twisted together
2. Troponin – contains binding sites for Ca+
3. Tropomyosin – located along the groove between the twisted strands
of actin
• Function: Block the myosin myofilament binding sites on the actin
myofilaments in an unstimulated muscle. However, when Ca+ is
present, it binds to troponin, which causes the tropomyosin filaments
to expose the attachment sites on the actin myofilaments.

Myosin (thick) Myofilaments

Resemble bundles of minute golf clubs.
Myosin heads – resemble the golf club heads
Three important properties of myosin heads:
1. Bind to attachment sites on the actin myofilaments
2. They can bend and straighten during contraction
3. They can break down ATP, releasing energy

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Sarcomeres
Each sarcomere extends from one Z disk to an adjacent Z
disk.
Z disk is a network of protein fibers forming an attachment site for
actin myofilaments.
The arrangement of the actin and myosin myofilaments in
sarcomeres gives the myofibrils a banded appearance.
1. Light, I band – consist only of actin myofilaments, spans each
Z disk and ends at the myosin myofilaments.
2. Dark, A band (central region) – extends the length of the
myosin myofilaments. Actin and myosin myofilaments overlap
for some distance at both ends.
• H zone (light zone)
Consist only of myosin myofilaments (center of sarcomere)
• M line (dark band)
Anchors the myosin myofilaments in the center of sarcomere

The basic structural and functional unit of skeletal muscle because it is the smallest portion of skeletal muscle capable of
contracting.

The alternating I bands and A bands of the sarcomeres are responsible for the striations in skeletal muscle
fibers observed through the microscope. It is the close association of the sarcomeres, the T-tubules, and the
sarcoplasmic reticulum that enables a nerve stimulus to initiate contraction of the muscle fiber.

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Muscle Contraction
Contraction of skeletal muscle tissue occurs as actin and myosin myofilaments
slide past one another, causing the sarcomeres to shorten. Many sarcomeres are
joined end-to-end to form myofibrils. Shortening of the sarcomeres causes myofibrils to
shorten, thereby causing the entire muscle to shorten.

The sliding of actin myofilaments past myosin myofilaments during contraction is called
the Sliding Filament Model of muscle contraction.

→ During contraction, neither the actin nor the myosin fibers shorten. The H zone
and I bands shorten during contraction, but A bands do not change in length.

→ During muscle relaxation, sarcomeres lengthen. This lengthening requires an opposing

force, such as that produced by other muscles or by gravity.

Fully contracted sarcomere Relaxed sarcomere

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Summary of Skeletal Muscle Contraction

1. An action potential travels
along an axon membrane to a
neuromuscular junction.
2. Ca+ channels open and Ca+
enters the presynaptic
terminal.
3. Acetylcholine (Ach) is released
form presynaptic vesicles.
4. Acetylcholine (Ach) stimulates
Na+ channels on the
postsynaptic membrane to
open.

5. Na+ diffuses into the muscle

fiber, initiating action
potential that travels along
the sarcolemma and T-tubule
membranes.
6. Action potential in the T-
tubules causes the
sarcoplasmic reticulum to
release Ca+.
7. On the actin, Ca+ binds to
troponin, which moves
tropomyosin and exposes
myosin attachment.

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8. ATP molecules are broken

down to ADP and P, which
releases energy needed to
move the myosin heads.
9. The heads of the myosin
myofilaments bend, causing
the actin to slide past the
myosin. As long as Ca+ is
present, the cycle repeats.

References
1. Marieb EN, Keller SM. (2017) Essentials of Human Anatomy & Physiology,
12th ed. Pearson Education. ISBN 9780134395326
2. VanPutte CV, Regan J, Russo A. (2016) Seeley’s Essentials of Human
Anatomy & Physiology, 9th ed. McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 978-0-07-
809732-4