Week 3:

Skeletal Muscle Structure,

Muscles & Movement
Major New Concepts, Principles
and Learning Objectives
1. Characteristics and types of muscle tissue
2. Macro and microstructure of skeletal muscle
3. Sliding filament mechanism of contraction
4. Neuromuscular junction
5. Types of muscle contraction
 Textbook Readings
 Marieb & Hoehn: Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 (see Moodle ‘Reflect and Progress’
for specific sections)
Characteristics of Muscle Tissue
 Highly cellular
 High energy requirement, so lots of mitochondria

 Well vascularized
 Good blood supply for cell repair and delivery of oxygen and nutrients

 Contractile
 Muscle contracts to cause movement

4
Types of Muscle Tissue

Marieb & Hoehn, Table 9.3

Functions of Skeletal Muscle
 Produce movement

 Maintaining posture

 Stabilising joints

 Generating heat

 Organ protection
Functional Characteristics of
Skeletal Muscle
 Excitability: ability to receive and respond to stimuli

 Contractility: ability to shorten forcibly when stimulated

 Extensibility: ability to be stretched

 Elasticity: ability to recoil to resting length

Basic organisation
Skeletal muscle > muscle fibres > myofibrils
Myofibril bundle (EM)

~2.5µm
Single
fibre
 Skeletal Muscle –
connective tissue layers (3)
Bone Whole muscle
surrounded by
Epimysium
Tendon
Muscle fascicle
wrapped by perimysium

Muscle fibre
with endomysium between
individual fibres

Marieb & Hoehn: Fig. 9.1

Structural Components of
Skeletal Muscle
 Muscle Fascicles Muscles fibres (cells)
 Connective tissue wrappings:
 Epimysium – TOP - around whole muscle
 Perimysium – around fascicles
 Endomysium – WITHIN - around individual
muscle fibres

 Within each individual muscle fibre:

 Myofilaments – key proteins actin and myosin
 Myofibrils
 Sarcomeres (contractile unit)
The Muscle Fibre (Cell)
 Each fibre is a long, striated, cylindrical cell with multiple nuclei
beneath the sarcolemma (muscle cell membrane)

Sarcolemma

Mitochondrion

Myofibril
Dark Light Nucleus
A band I band

Diagram of part of a muscle fibre showing myofibrils

Marieb & Hoehn: Fig 9.2b Microscopic anatomy of a skeletal muscle fibre
Myofibrils
Sarco = flesh / muscle
Sarcoplasm = Cytoplasm of muscle cell
Myofibril = Rod-like contractile element

Arrangement of myofibrils = repeating series of dark A bands & light I bands

Myofilaments
= thick MYOSIN filament & thin filament containing ACTIN

Thin (actin)
filament Z disc H zone Z disc

Thick I band A band I band M line

(myosin) Sarcomere
filament
Marieb & Hoehn, Fig 9.2c Microscopic anatomy of a skeletal muscle fibre
 Sarcomere
 Sarcomere = Segment of myofibril

= Smallest contractile unit (functional unit) of muscle fibre

Marieb & Hoehn, Table 9.1

Thick Filament: Myosin
Globular head contains:
ATP binding site
Actin binding site
ATPase

The myosin heads form

“cross bridges”
Attaches to actin during
muscle contraction

Marieb & Hoehn, Fig 9.3

Thin Filament: Actin, Tropomyosin
& Troponin
Actin
Thin filaments

Two actin chains are wound

around each other

Associated troponin and

tropomyosin

Has binding sites for myosin

to attach during contraction

Marieb & Hoehn, Fig 9.3

Thin Filament:
Tropomyosin, Troponin
 Tropomyosin
 Long, thin protein associated with actin
 Blocks myosin binding sites on actin during muscle relaxation

 Troponin
 Protein attached to tropomyosin
 Three part protein
 ‘Blocker’ of myosin binding site on actin

Marieb & Hoehn, Fig 9.3

Intracellular Space Surrounding
Myofibrils
 The intracellular space contains:
 Mitochondria - make ATP for muscle contraction
 Glycogen & myoglobin – fuel for ATP production
 Transverse tubules - conducting system for motor action potential
 Sarcoplasmic reticulum - store, release and uptake calcium

** Calcium important in muscle contraction

Intracellular Space Surrounding
Myofibrils
 Transverse Tubules (T-tubules)
 Membrane-lined channels extending into muscle cell
 Continuous with extracellular space
 Conduct action potentials
 Allows action potential to reach deep inside muscle cell

Marieb & Hoehn, Fig 9.5

Intracellular Space Surrounding
Myofibrils
 Sarcoplasmic Reticulum
 Interconnected sacs and tubes that surround each myofibril
 Come into close contact with t-tubules
 Contain “terminal cisternae”
 Expanded sections of sarcoplasmic reticulum
 Stores calcium when muscle fibre is relaxed
Sliding Filament Theory
 How skeletal muscle contracts:
 Thin filaments (blue actin) slide past
thick (orange myosin) filaments
 Decreases sarcomere length (A band +
half an I band) but NOT filaments
 I bands (containing only actin) get
shorter
 H zone (containing only myosin gets
shorter)
 A bands remain unchanged
 Distance between Z lines decreases

Marieb & Hoehn, Fig 9.6

Physiology of Muscle Contraction – NOW A
HBA TOPIC
 Describes the processes involved between an action potential
in a motor nerve fibre leading to contraction of a muscle

 3 parts
1. Production of a muscle action potential at NMJ
2. Excitation-contraction coupling
3. Cross-bridge cycling
Overview

1 2

Marieb, E. Human Anatomy and Physiology, 4 th edition, 1998 Fig 9.11 Sequence of events in E-C coupling
Similar figure in 9th ed. 9.11 (p 290-291)
Neuromuscular Junction
 Skeletal muscle cells contract as a result of APs from
motor neurons.
 The place where a motor neuron stimulates a muscle
cell is called a neuromuscular junction.
 In order for skeletal muscle cells to contract each cell
must be stimulated by a motor neuron.
Motor Unit
 Motor Unit: a somatic motor neuron with all of the muscle fibres it
innervates
 Neuron cell body located in ventral horn of spinal cord grey
matter
 Each muscle fibre receives a single axon terminal from a
motor neuron
 When a motor unit is activated, ALL muscle fibres in that unit are
stimulated to contract
 Motor unit
Spinal cord
Axon terminals at Branching axon
neuromuscular junctions to motor unit
Motor Motor
unit 1 unit 2

Nerve

Motor neuron
cell body
Motor neuron
axon

Muscle

Muscle
fibers

Branching axon terminals form

neuromuscular junctions, one
per muscle fiber (photomicro-
graph 330x).
Axons of motor neurons extend from the spinal cord to the muscle. There each
axon divides into a number of axon terminals that form neuromuscular junctions
with muscle fibers scattered throughout the muscle.

Marieb & Hoehn, Fig. 9.13

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

Graded muscle responses
 Can vary strength of muscle contraction
 Whole muscles contract in a GRADED fashion
 Produced by variations in the number of motor units activated
 Fine neural control over strength of muscle contraction = many
small motor units
 e.g. eye movement muscles that position average 23
fibres per neuron/motor unit
 Neural control over powerful muscle contraction = large motor
units
 e.g. gastrocnemius (calf) = 1000 fibres per neuron/motor
unit
Skeletal Muscle Activity
3 main types of muscle activity

1) Muscle Contraction:
• active process of generating force

2) Muscle Tone:
• slight contraction in response to reflex activity
• keeps muscles firm

3) Muscle Tension:
• active tension produced in muscle belly
• passive tension due to stretching of connective tissue

New Principle (M8): Tension in muscles on opposite surfaces of a

joint contributes to joint stability

27
BREAK – QUESTIONS?
Naming Muscles
 Muscles often named due to:
 Location
 Shape
 Size
 Fibre orientation

 Principle M4: The name of a skeletal muscle reflects its

structure and /or function (e.g. shape, size, orientation,
location, attachments, action.
Buzz Group
 Why are these muscles named as such:

 BICEPS BRACHII _____________________

 GLUTEUS MAXIMUS _____________________
 ORBICULARIS ORIS ______________________

 Demonstrate their actions

Fibre Orientation
Orientation of
muscle fibres
determines range of
movement and
power

Greatest range of
movement = parallel

Greatest power –
most muscle fibres – Marieb & Hoehn, Fig 10.2.

multipennate,
bipennate
Muscle Attachments: Origin and Insertion
The structures that the muscle ORIGIN

attaches to are known as the Bone INSERTION

bone

ORIGIN and INSERTION of the bone

joint

muscle

The ORIGIN is usually the bone

soft tissue
superior (or proximal if in the
limbs) attachment
Soft tissue site

The INSERTION is usually the

inferior (or distal) attachment
site muscle belly shortens

Usual case when muscle belly

shortens, INSERTION moves Manual p A-12
Muscle Roles in Movement
Prime Mover (agonist): major muscle causing a
movement

Antagonist: opposes (anti-) movement of

agonist

Fixator: muscle that stabilises a joint

Remember: Movement may be caused by

gravity (gravity can be the primer mover)
Action of paradox
Exception to the rule is when GRAVITY
produces a movement = ACTION OF PARADOX
KEY PHRASES:

Produced by
gravity

Controlled by the
muscle
e.g. biceps

Lowering
movements
Muscle Contraction Types - WORKSHOP
Dynamic contractions - involve movement
 Dynamic CONCENTRIC contraction
 when a muscle develops tension & SHORTENS - causes movement

 Dynamic ECCENTRIC contraction

 when a muscle develops tension & LENGTHENS - opposes movement (which is often caused by
gravity)

Static contractions
 no movement
 Termed STATIC or isometric contraction - when a muscle develops tension but does not change in
length

CONCENTRIC ECCENTRIC STATIC

Gravity
Open & Closed Chain Movements
Important for workshop
Open
 Origin fixed
 Insertion point is most mobile
when muscle contracts
 Distal part free
 Lifting objects
 weight against gravity
e.g. kicking football
Closed
 Insertion fixed
 Origin point is most mobile
when muscle contracts
 Distal part fixed
 Lifting or moving our body
 e.g. sitting down and
standing up
Types of Muscle Contraction
Movement Static
musc
le origi contractio
inserti n n
on
Concentric
Dynamic contractions Isometric/static
(movement) contraction
Concentric contraction
contraction

Closed-chain
movement
Origin
moves

Insertion
moves
Open chain Closed chain Eccentric
CONCENTRIC contraction
37
movement movement (origin
(muscle
(insertion moves) moves)shortens)
 Muscle Position and Action
 IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES TO KNOW
 Principle M6. A muscle must cross a joint in order to act at that joint
 Principle M7. The position of a muscle relative to a joint determines the plane
and direction of movement it can produce at that joint
 In general, if a muscle crosses a joint:
 Anteriorly with vertical fibres, it produces flexion except for the knee
extensors (quadriceps femoris group are anterior)
 Posteriorly with vertical fibres, it produces extension except for the knee
flexors (hamstrings, calves are posterior)
 Superiorly or laterally, it produces abduction e.g. deltoid
 Inferiorly or medially, it produces adduction e.g. latissimus dorsi. pectoralis
major
 Anteriorly with horizontal fibres, it produces internal rotation e.g. pectoralis
major
 Posteriorly with horizontal fibres, it produces external rotation e.g. rotator
cuff muscle infraspinatus
Examples of important muscles
Where is the muscle?
Which bones does it attach to?
What is its position as it crosses the joint?
What is its action?

Where? _________
Attachments?
O – ___________
I – ____________
Position?
Action?

Where? _________
Attachments?
O O – ___________ I
I – ____________
Position?
Action at elbow
and shoulder?
I 39
O
Marieb & Hoehn, Fig 10.12, 10.15
Examples of important muscles
Where is the muscle?
Anterior of upper limb/humerus
Which bones does it attach to?
O – anterior scapula, I – anterior radius
What is its position as it crosses the joint?
Anterior
What is its action?
Flexion of elbow joint Anterior abdominal wall
Flexes arm at shoulder O – pubic bone of hip
I – ribs and bottom of sternum
Anterior
Flexes vertebral column
and pelvis onto vertebral
Posterior humerus column
O – posterior scapula,
O I – posterior ulna
Posterior I
Extension of elbow joint
Extends arm at shoulder

I 40
O
Marieb & Hoehn, Fig 10.12, 10.15
Examples of important muscles
Where is the muscle?
Gluteal region – posterior hip
Which bones does it attach to?
O – posterior hip/ilum, I – superior lateral femur
What is its position as it crosses the joint?
posteriorly
What is its action? Quadriceps
Hip extension
femoris

Where is the muscle? I

I Anterior femur
Which bones does it attach to?
O – anterior femur, I – anterior tibia
What is its position as it crosses the joint?
Anteriorly
Marieb & Hoehn, Fig. 10.20 & 10.21
What is its action?
Knee extension
Embryology
 In the foetus, the upper and lower limbs rotate in different
directions from their original embryological position

 Relate to the lower limb- where are the flexor muscle groups
located?? E.g. hamstring muscles
 Posterior – due to medial rotation of lower limb

 Contrast this to the upper limb - where are the flexor muscle
groups located?? E.g. biceps brachii
 Anterior – due to lateral rotation of upper limb