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Smooth Muscle Experiment
Smooth Muscle Experiment
involuntary
Types of muscle tissue due to structure;
- smooth involuntary (smooth) muscle, - striated voluntary (skeletal) muscle - striated involuntary (cardiac) muscle.
involves the prefix sarco- or myo- . - The cytoplasm of muscle fibers or cells is called sarcoplasm. - The endoplasmic reticulum of fibers or cells is called sarcoplasmic reticulum. - The plasmalemma of fibers or cells is called the sarcolemma. - Individual muscle cells are called myocytes.
are spindle-shaped. The myocytes have one centrally located nucleus. Do no have striations . Lack clearly defined bands of actin and myosin. Its contraction is not under conscious nervous control, referred to as involuntary muscle. The involuntary activity is controlled by autonomic nerves and circulating hormones.
especially in regions such as; - in the walls of the digestive tract. - in the walls of the respiratory tracts. - in the walls of blood vessels. - in the dermis of the skin. - in the eye (iris diaphragm). - in the wall of the uterus.
pressure. form muscle sphincters at branches of the vascular tree and determine the distribution of blood to different capillary beds. regulate the size and internal pressure of hollow organs. protect the internal organs. propelling the content of the internal organs. help to mix the chyme with the intestinal juice in the stomach, and in the intestine.
to stretch with increased tension. The extrinsic innervation is poor, but the cells are electrically coupled by numerous gap junctions, so that activity, once initiated, spreads rapidly throughout the whole muscle layer, thus the multicellular muscle act as a single unit.
eg. in the walls alimentary tract
for the tonic basal tension of the intestinal walls, for slow peristaltic contractions propelling the content, and for more frequent contractions of smaller amplitude referred to as rhythmic segmentation, involved with mixing the chyme and intestinal juices.
Conditions inhibiting Na/K pump, i.e. hypoxia, low temperature,
and treatment with cardiac glycosides depress slow-wave activity of smooth muscles. Conversely, slow waves are enhanced by conditions that stimulate sodium pumping, such as elevated temperature.
neural influences, including cholinergic intramural or enteric (within the intestine wall) nerve plexuses;
Application of acetylcholine (ACh), or Ach agonist e.g., eserine (inhibitor of ACh degrading enzyme: acetylcholine esterase) increases intestine motility,
muscle, and contractile tension is graded by variation in the number of active units. Intermediate between single unit smooth and skeletal muscles. Fibers are structurally independent, and there is little or no spread of activity from cell to cell.
eg. in the walls of the blood vessels, internal eye muscles
along membrane from the neuromuscular junction or adjacent cells. Step 2. Calcium is released from caveolae and endoplasmic reticulum Step 3. Calcium binds to calmodulin Step 4. Calcium-calmodulin complex activates and unfolds myosin light chain kinase
phosphorylate myosin light chain kinase (this is unique to smooth muscle). Step 6. Phosphorylated light chain kinase is activated so it can bind actin. Step 7. Works like an ATPase to bind actin and move along the F actin chain.
! Smooth muscle myosin has a lower ATPase activity ; corresponding to slower rate of contractions of smooth muscles !
(desmin and vimentin) help with the contraction by pulling the cell ends in (shortening the cell).
skeletal muscle and the cardiac muscle with the smooth muscle, in terms of structure and mechanism of contraction???
Biopac Student Lab System Smooth muscle from the rats intestine Tyrods solution Isolated organ bath Adrenaline
Eserine (Physostigmine)
Acetylcholine Atropine Oxygen source
A. Preparation
B. Recording normal activity C. Effect of Tension D. Effect of Removal of Air Supply E. Effect of Temperature F. Effect of Drugs - adrenalin sln.
system. Intrinsic (inside) nerves, embedded in the walls of the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and colon. The intrinsic nerves are triggered to act when the walls of the hollow organs are stretched by food. They release many different substances that speed up or delay the movement of food and the production of juices by the digestive organs. Extrinsic (outside) nerves come to the digestive organs from the unconscious part of the brain or from the spinal cord. They release a chemical called acetylcholine and another called adrenaline.
receptors on skeletal muscle fibers, it opens ligand-gated sodium channels in the cell membrane. Sodium ions then enter the muscle cell, initiating a sequence of steps that finally produce muscle contraction.
Adrenaline functions result from its binding to a variety of
adrenergic receptors It participates in the fight-or-flight response , and cause smooth muscle cells to relax.
of acetylcholine. It is an inhibitor of Acetylcholinesterase, the enzyme responsible for the breakdown of acetylcholine in the synpatic cleft of the neuromuscular junction. (Ach agonists)
Atropine lowers the parasympathetic activity of all muscles
and glands regulated by the parasympathetic nervous system, because atropine is a competitive antagonist of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. They block the acetylcholine receptors. (ACh antagonists)