Muscular system

Students will be able to identify and differentiate between skeletal, smooth, and cardiac muscles based on their location,
structure, and function.
Watch the video in order to compare between the three types of
muscles
The filament theory
The filament theory, also known as the sliding filament theory, is a concept that explains how muscles contract at the molecular level.
It describes the interactions between two types of protein filaments within muscle cells—actin and myosin.

In short:

● Actin and Myosin: Actin and myosin are protein filaments found in muscle cells.
● Muscle Contraction: When a muscle contracts, myosin filaments grab onto and pull actin filaments, causing them to slide past
each other.
● Cross-Bridges: Myosin forms cross-bridges with actin, and the repeated formation and breaking of these cross-bridges result
in the shortening of the muscle fiber, leading to contraction.
● ATP: The energy molecule ATP is necessary for the myosin heads to detach from actin and reset for the next contraction cycle.

This process occurs at the sarcomere level, which is the basic unit of muscle contraction. The filament theory provides a detailed
explanation of the molecular events that underlie muscle contraction and is fundamental to understanding how muscles generate
force and movement.