There are three types of muscular tissue:

1. skeletal muscle

2. cardiac muscle

3. smooth muscle.

Functions of muscular tissue

1. Producing body movements.

2. Stabilising body positions.

3. Storing and moving substances within the body.

4. Generating heat.

Properties of muscular tissue

1. Electrical excitability.

2. Contractility.

3. Extensibility.

4. Elasticity.

Skeletal muscle tissue

• Skeletal muscle also contains connective tissues surrounding muscle fibres and whole muscles,
and blood vessels and nerves.
Connective tissue components

• Connective tissue surrounds and protects muscular tissue.

• The subcutaneous (subQ) layer or hypodermis separates muscle from skin and provides a
pathway for nerves, blood vessels, and lymphatic vessels to enter and exit muscles.

• Fascia is a 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.

• Three layers of connective tissue extend from the fascia to protect and strengthen skeletal
muscle:

1. epimysium

2. perimysium

3. endomysium.

Nerve and blood supply

• Skeletal muscles are well supplied with nerves and blood vessels.

• Generally, an artery and one or two veins accompany each nerve that penetrates a skeletal
muscle.

• The neurons that stimulate skeletal muscle to contract are somatic motor neurons.

• Microscopic blood vessels called capillaries are plentiful in muscular tissue.

Microscopic anatomy of a skeletal muscle fibre

• The most important components of a skeletal muscle are the muscle fibres themselves.

• The number of skeletal muscle fibres is set before you are born, and most of these cells last a
lifetime.
Filaments and the sarcomere

Components of a sarcomere
Muscle proteins

Contraction and relaxation of skeletal muscle fibres

• The sliding filament mechanism:

• Myosin pulls on actin, causing the thin filament to slide inward.

• Consequently, Z discs move towards each other and the sarcomere shortens.

• Thanks to the structural proteins, there is a transmission of force throughout the entire
muscle, resulting in whole muscle contraction.

• Note the changes in the I band and H zone as the muscle contracts.
The contraction cycle
Excitation–contraction coupling

• This concept connects the events of a muscle action potential with the sliding filament
mechanism.

Length–tension relationship

• The force of a muscle contraction depends on the length of the sarcomeres prior to the
contraction.

The neuromuscular junction

• The events at the NMJ produce a muscle action potential:

• Voltage-gated calcium channels open, resulting in an influx of calcium. This causes

exocytosis of neurotransmitter (NT) into the synaptic cleft. NT binds to ligand-gated Na+
channels on the motor endplate which cause an influx of Na+ into the muscle. This
depolarises it and results in Ca2+ release from the SR.

• NT gets broken down.

• Without this series of events, muscle contraction would not be possible.

Muscle metabolism

• How do muscles derive the ATP necessary to power the contraction cycle?

• Creatine phosphate

• Anaerobic glycolysis

• Aerobic respiration.

Muscle fatigue

• Muscle fatigue is the inability to maintain force of contraction after prolonged activity.

• This can be due to:

• inadequate release of Ca2+ from SR

• depletion of creatine phosphate, oxygen and nutrients

• build up of lactic acid and ADP

• insufficient release of ACh at NMJ.

Oxygen consumption after exercise

• Why do you continue to breathe heavily for a period of time after stopping exercise?

• Oxygen debt:

• replenishes creatine phosphate stores

 • converts lactate into pyruvate

• reloads O2 into myoglobin.

Control of muscle tension

• A motor unit consists of a somatic motor neuron and the muscle fibres it innervates.

• The strength of a contraction depends on how many motor units are activated.

Twitch contraction

• A twitch contraction is the brief contraction of all muscle fibres in a motor unit in response to a
single action potential:

• latent period

• contraction period

• relaxation period

• refractory period.

Frequency of stimulation

• Wave summation occurs when a second action potential triggers a muscle contraction before the
first contraction has finished.

• This results in a stronger contraction.

• When a skeletal muscle fibre is stimulated at a rate of 20 to 30 times per second, it can only
partially relax between stimuli. The result is a sustained but wavering contraction called unfused
tetanus.

• When a skeletal muscle fibre is stimulated at a higher rate of 80 to 100 times per second, it does
not relax at all. The result is fused (complete) tetanus, a sustained contraction in which
individual twitches cannot be detected

Motor unit recruitment

• Motor units recruitment is the process in which the number of active motor units increases.

• The weakest motor units are recruited first followed by stronger motor units.

• Motor units contract alternately to sustain contractions for longer periods of time.

Muscle tone

• Even when at rest, a skeletal muscle exhibits a small amount of tension, called tone.

• This is due to weak, involuntary contractions of motor units.

Isotonic vs isometric contractions

• Isotonic: tension is constant, while muscle length changes:

 • concentric

• eccentric.

• Isometric: muscle contracts but does not change length.

Types of skeletal muscle fibres

• Slow oxidative fibres

• Fast oxidative–glycolytic fibres

• Fast glycolytic fibres

Exercise and skeletal muscle tissue

• Effective stretching:

• Tissues stretch best when slow, gentle force is applied at elevated tissue temperatures.

• Strength training: exercising with progressively heavier resistance for the purpose of
strengthening the musculoskeletal system.

Cardiac muscle tissue

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

• Cardiac muscle has the same arrangement as skeletal muscle, but also has intercalated discs.

Smooth muscle tissue

• Smooth muscle contractions start more slowly and last longer than skeletal and cardiac muscle
contractions.
 • Smooth muscle can shorten and stretch to a greater extent.

Regeneration of muscular tissue

• Because mature skeletal muscle fibres have lost the ability to undergo cell division, growth of
skeletal muscle after birth is due mainly to hypertrophy, the enlargement of existing cells, rather
than to hyperplasia, an increase in the number of fibres.

• Smooth muscle tissue, like skeletal and cardiac muscle tissue, can undergo hypertrophy.

• New smooth muscle fibres can arise from cells called pericytes.

Ageing and muscular tissue

• Between 30 and 50 years of age, about 10% of our muscle tissue is replaced by fibrous
connective tissue and adipose tissue.

• Between 50 and 80 years of age, another 40% of our muscle tissue is replaced.

• Consequences:

• muscle strength and flexibility decrease

• reflexes slow

• slow oxidative fibre numbers increase.

How skeletal muscles produce movement

• Skeletal muscles produce movements by exerting force on tendons.

 • Tendons attach to and pull on bones, and movement occurs.

Origin and insertion

• Most muscles cross at least one joint and are attached at the articulating bones.

• When a muscle contracts, it draws one articulating bone towards the other:

• origin: the attachment to the stationary bone

• insertion: the attachment to the movable bone.

Relationship of skeletal muscles to bones

Lever systems and leverage

• In producing movement, bones act as levers, and joints function as the fulcrums of these levers.

• The lever is acted on by:

• resistance

• effort.

Effects of fascicle arrangement

• Skeletal muscle fibres (cells) within a muscle are arranged in bundles called fascicles.

• Within a fascicle, all muscle fibres are parallel to one another.

 • The fascicles may form one of five patterns with respect to the tendons:

• parallel,

• fusiform (spindle-shaped, narrow towards the ends and wide in the middle)

• circular

• triangular

• pennate (shaped like a feather).

Coordination among muscles

• Movements often are the result of several skeletal muscles acting as a group.

• Most skeletal muscles are arranged in opposing pairs at joints.

• Under different conditions and at different times, many muscles may act as:

• agonist/prime movers

• antagonists

• synergists

• fixators.

How skeletal muscles are named

 • A muscle may be named based on the:

• pattern of the muscle’s fascicles

• location

• size

• shape

• number of origins

• action

• sites of origin and insertion of the muscle.

Principal skeletal muscles

• Exhibits 11.A–11.T will assist you in learning the names of the principal skeletal muscles in
various regions of the body. The muscles in the exhibits are divided into groups according to the
part of the body on which they act.

• As you study groups of muscles in the exhibits, refer to figure 11.3 to see how each group is
related to the others.