MOVEMENT

MUSCLES
● Responsible for the movement of the
body and materials within the body
● Types:
1. Smooth
➢ Controlled by autonomic nervous
system
2. Striated
➢ Cardiac
➢ Skeletal
➢ Attached to bones which produces the
majority of body movement

Contraction
a. Tropomyosin
● Protein that covers actin binding sites,
preventing actin from interacting with
myosin

b. Troponin
● Protein that when bound by calcium
displaces tropomyosin, allowing actin to
interact with myosin

Anatomy
a. Muscle Fiber
● Action potential produces single
contraction (twitch)

b. Myofibril
● Responsible for contraction
● Sarcomere
● Z line
● Actin – thin filaments
● Myosin – thick filaments

Fiber Types and Speed

a. Type I Fibers (slow-twitch)
● Use aerobic metabolism which requires
oxygen
● Endurance activities (e.g. distance
running)

b. Type IIa and IIb Fibers (fast-twitch)

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● Use anaerobic metabolism which occurs
in the absence of oxygen
● Explosive, powerful movements (e.g.
jumping, weightlifting)
Neural Control of Muscles
a. Alpha Motor Neurons
● Spinal motor neurons directly
responsible for signaling a muscle fiber
to contract
● Neuromuscular junction – synapse
formed between an alpha motor neuron
axon terminal and a muscle fiber
Control of Spinal Motor Units
1. Feedback from the Muscle Spindle
● Provide information about muscle
stretch
○ Intrafusal
○ Extrafusal – responsible for
contraction
○ Three types
a. Nuclear chain fibers - length
b. Static nuclear fibers - length
c. Dynamic nuclear bag fibers - rate of
change or velocity

b. Motor Unit
● Combination of a single alpha motor
neuron and all the muscle fibers that it
innervates

2. Feedback from the Golgi Tendon

Control of Muscle Contractions Organs
a. Rate Code ● Provide information about muscle
● Vary to the firing of motor neurons contraction
● Temporal summation
● Tetanus – muscle cannot contract any Reflex Control of Movement
farther Reciprocal Inhibition
a. Flexor
b. Recruitment ➢ Acts to bend a joint
● Size principle b. Extensor
● Increased load in muscle → more motor ➢ Acts to straighten a joint
units are recruited to provide extra
tension
● (1) smaller, slow-twitch units, (2)
Intermediate type Iia units, (3) Largest,
fastest type IIb units

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Reflexes ● Sequencing of complex movements
a. Flexor Reflex
➢ Sensory neurons transmit information to
interneurons of spinal cord
➢ Interneurons excite the alpha motor
neurons serving the flexor muscle

b. Babinski Reflex
Basal Ganglia
● collection of nuclei within the cerebral
hemispheres that participate in the
control of voluntary movement
● selecting and enabling the execution of
motor programs stored by the cortex
● Choice and initiation of voluntary
movements
● Gate or filter for intentional activity
Motor Systems:
Spinal Motor Pathways
a. Lateral Pathways
● Corticospinal Tract – fine motor
coordination
● Rubrospinal Tract – learned patterns of
movement

b. Ventromedial Pathways
● Reticulospinal tracts – flexor reflex

Cerebellum
● Maintenance of balance and
coordination
● Learning of motor skills

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 MOVEMENT
(paralysis or weakness) or to any deficit
in comprehension or motivation.

Disorders of Movement
1. Toxins
● Affect the Acetylcholine

2. Muscular Dystrophy
● Group of inherited diseases
characterized by progressive muscle
degeneration

3. Polio (Poliomyelitis)
● Caused by contagious virus that
specifically targets and destroys spinal
alpha motor neurons
4. Accidental Spinal Cord Injury
● Quadriplegia – cervical or neck region
of spinal cord; loss of movement in both
arms and legs
● Paraplegia – lumbar region; loss of
movement in the legs

5. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

● Degeneration of motor neurons in the
spinal cord, brainstem, and motor cortex

6. Parkinson’s Disease
● Progressive difficulty in all movements,
muscular tremors in the resting hand,
and frozen facial expressions

7. Huntington’s Disease
● Genetic disorder; produces involuntary,
jerky movements

8. Apraxia
● Disorder of voluntary movement that is
not attributable to a simple motor deficit

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