Chapter 9 & 10: The Muscular System

THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM

MUSCLES & MUSCLE TISSUE

Types of Muscle Tissue

1. Skeletal muscle
 Attached to the skeleton
 Striated
 Voluntary

2. Cardiac muscle
 Forms the heart
 Striated and branching
 Involuntary

3. Smooth muscle
 Walls of hollow organs
 Nonstriated
 Involuntary

Functional Characteristics / Basic Properties of Muscle Tissue

1. Excitability (Irritability)
 The capability to received and respond to a stimulus

2. Contractility
 The ability to contract or shorten

3. Extensibility
 The ability to be stretched

4. Elasticity
 The ability to return to its original shape after being stretched or
contracted

Muscle Functions

 4 important functions:
1. Produce movement
2. Maintain posture
3. Stabilize joints
4. Generate heat

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 Chapter 9 & 10: The Muscular System

SKELETAL MUSCLE

Gross Anatomy of Skeletal Muscle

 Skeletal muscle tissue is composed of individual cells called muscle fibers

 Muscle fibers (cells) are protected and strengthened by connective tissue
coverings/sheaths
1. Endomysium
2. Perimysium and fascicles
3. Epimysium
 Fascicles are groups of fibers and muscle are group of fascicles
 Fascia is a sheet of fibrous tissue enclosing of muscles or group of muscle
 A sheath of connective tissue called endomysium surrounds each muscle
fiber, perimysium surrounds each fascicle and epimysium encases muscles
 Muscle are supplied with blood by arteries and nerves (motor neurons)

Microscopic Anatomy of Skeletal Muscle Fiber

 Myofibrils are contractile elements that occupy most of the cell volume.
 Their banded appearance results from a regular alternation dark (A) and light
(I) bands.
 Myofibrils are chains of sarcomere; each sarcomere contains thick (myosin)
and thin (actin) myofilaments arranged in a regular array.
 The heads of myosin molecules form cross bridges that interact with the thin
filaments.
 The sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) is a system of membranous tubules
surrounding each myofibril. Its function is to release and then sequester
calcium ions.
 T tubules are invaginations of the sarcolemma that run between the terminal
cisternae of the SR. They allow the electrical stimulus to be delivered quickly
to deep cell regions.

Sliding Filament Model of Contraction

 Thin filaments are pulled toward the sarcomere centers by cross bridge
(myosin head) activity of the thick filaments

Physiology of a Skeletal Muscle Fiber

 Regulation of skeletal muscle cell/fiber contraction involves:

1. Generation and transmission of an action potential (electrical current)
along the sarcolemma
2. Excitation-contraction coupling
 Skeletal muscle cells are stimulated by motor neurons. The axon of each
motor neuron divides profusely as it enters the muscle.

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 Chapter 9 & 10: The Muscular System

 Each axonal ending forms a branching neuromuscular junction with a single

muscle fiber.
 An end plate potential is set up when neurotransmitter acetycholine (ACh)
released by a nerve ending binds to Ach receptors on the sarcolemma,
causing changes in membrane permeability that allow ion flows that
deplolarize the membrane at the motor end plate.
 In excitation-contraction coupling, the action potential is propagated down
the T tubules, causing calcium to be released from the SR into the cell
interior.
 Sliding of the filaments is triggered by rise in intracellular calcium ion level.
 Troponin binding of calcium moves tropomyosin away from myosin binding
sites on actin, allowing cross bridge.
 Myosin ATPases split ATP, which energizes the working strokes and is
necessary for bridge detachment.
 Cross bridge activity ends when calcium is pumped back into the SR.

Contraction of a Skeletal Muscle

 A motor unit is one motor neuron and all the muscle cells it innervates
 The neuron’s axon has several branches, each of which forms a
neuromuscular junction with one muscle cell
 The respond of a motor unit to a single action potential of its motor neuron is
called a muscle twitch
 Isotonic contractions occur when the muscle shortens (concentric contraction)
or lengthens (eccentric contraction) as the load is moved
 Isometric contractions occur when muscle tension produces but the muscle
does not shorten or lengthen

THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM

Action & Interactions of Skeletal Muscles in the Body

 Skeletal muscles are arranged in opposing groups across body joints so that
one group can reverse or modify the action of the other

Classification of Muscles

1. Agonist (prime mover)

 A muscle that is primarily responsible for producing a movement
 e.g. elbow flexion (biceps brachii and brachialis)

2. Antagonist
 A muscle that opposes or reverse the movement of a prime mover
 e.g. elbow flexion (triceps brachii)

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 Chapter 9 & 10: The Muscular System

3. Synergist
 A muscle that complements the action of a prime mover (stabilizing
joints)
 e.g. elbow flexion (brachioradialis and pronator teres)

4. Fixator (postural)
 A muscle that provides a stable base for the action of the prime mover
(When synergist function to immobilize a bone or a muscle’s origin)

Attachment of Muscles

1. Origin
 The end of a muscle attached to the bone that does not move

2. Insertion
 The point of attachment of the muscle on the bone that moves

Major Skeletal of the Body

 Muscle of the Head; Anterior Neck & Throat; Vertebral Column; Thorax;
Abdominal Wall; Pelvic Floor & Perineum; Shoulder Joint; Elbow Joint;
Forearm; Hand; Hip & Knee Joints; Leg; and Foot.