MUSCULAR

SYSTEM
UNIT 6 Topic 1
Muscle Tissue
Notes
Standard 6.2
Muscles
● Are muscles organs?
○ YES
● Muscles are responsible for all
types of body movements
● 3 basic muscle types:
○ Skeletal (We will concentrate mostly on
this one.)
○ Smooth
○ Cardiac
Characteristics of Muscles
● Muscle cells are elongated
(muscle cell = muscle fiber)
● Contraction of muscles is due to
the movement of microfilaments
● All muscles share some
terminology
- Prefix myo refers to muscle
- Prefix mys refers to muscle
- Prefix sarco refers to flesh
Skeletal Muscle
● Cells - long, cylindrical, multinucleated, striated
○ Some of the biggest cells in the body
● Voluntary - controlled by the nervous system
● When are they not voluntary?
○ REFLEXES
● What is the speed of their
contraction?
○ Speed of contraction varies (fast to
slow to fast or fast to slow)
● Location?
○ Cover bones
Cardiac Muscle
● Cells - branching,
intercalated discs, striated
● Involuntary - controlled by
its own pacemaker and
hormones
● Slow rhythmic contractions
● Usually has a single nucleus
 Smooth Muscle
● Cells - no striations, appear
smooth and “stringy” in
microscope
● Involuntary
● Single Nucleus
● Very slow contraction
○ Can be rhythmic
● Location
○ Walls of hollow visceral organs
-
○ Stomach, bladder, resp.
passages
Functions of Skeletal Muscles
● Produce Movement
● Maintain Posture
● Stabilize joints
● Generate Heat

Sites of Muscle Attachment

● Bones
● Cartilage
● Connective Tissue Coverings
 5 Properties of Muscles
1. Muscles are excitable – capable
of receiving stimulation and
responding to stimulation from
nerves
2. Contractile – after receiving
stimulation, they are capable of
contracting (shortening)
3. Extensible – can be stretched
without damaging
4. Elasticity – able to return to
original resting shape and
length after being extended or
contracted
5. Adaptable – can be changed in
response to how it is used
5 Golden Rules of Skeletal Muscles
1. All muscles cross at least one joint
► A few minor exceptions

2. Typically, the bulk of the muscle is going to

be proximal to the joint crossed
3. All muscles have at least two attachment
points: the origin and insertion
4. Muscles can only pull, they cannot push
5. During contraction, the insertion point
moves toward the origin.
 Structure of a
Skeletal Muscle
Notes
Standard 6.3
Anatomy of a Muscle Cell
Structure of Skeletal Muscles
Muscles have multiple layers
► Cylinders within cylinders
Levels of muscles, largest to smallest:
► Muscle > fascicle > muscle fiber > myofibril >🡪
filaments
Structure of Skeletal Muscles
● Each level of a muscle is enclosed in a
layer of connective tissue
● Fascia - connective tissue that covers
and is intertwined with the muscles.
● Has three purposes
3 Purposes of Fascia
1. Separate Muscle levels from one
another
2. Separate muscles from one another
3. Hold muscles in place
○ Tendons - connective tissue that connects
muscles to the bone.
■ It is an area beyond the end of the muscle
where the fascia gets very dense and
compact.
○ Aponeuroses - associated with sheet-like
muscles, connects muscle to muscle.
Layers of the Skeletal Muscle
● Epimysium- outermost layer of the
skeletal muscle. It holds the group
of fascicles together
● Perimysium- wrapped around
each fascicle
● Endomysium- wrapped around
each muscle fiber- innermost
layer
Skeletal Muscle Fibers
● What is the purpose
of all the levels of
muscles?
○ Help with
contraction, all
of them can work
together
○ Muscle contracts
at the smallest
level, many small
contractions add
up to one big one
 Skeletal Muscle Fibers
● Muscle fiber –
individual muscle
cell that contracts
in response to
stimulation.
● These have
different names
for the cell
membrane and
cytoplasm
○ Cell membrane
= sarcolemma
○ Cytoplasm =
sarcoplasm
 Skeletal Muscle Fibers
● Each muscle fiber contains
numerous thread like
myofibrils that lie parallel
to one another.
● Myofibrils contain two
kinds of protein filaments.
○ Myosin – “Thick”
filaments
■ Cross bridges for
contraction
○ Actin - “Thin” filaments
■ Active sites for
contraction
 Skeletal Muscle Fibers
● These filaments overlap, what type
of appearance does this create in
skeletal muscle?
○ Striated
 Striation pattern parts:
●I band - (light bands)
where only actin
filaments are.
●Z – line – where actin
filaments meet
●A bands - (dark bands)
where both myosin and
actin are overlapping
●H zone – where only
myosin is (bare zone)
●From Z line to Z line is
one sarcomere.
 Structure of Skeletal Muscle
● Within the muscle fiber there are
networks of tubes:
Sarcoplasmic reticulum – look like a “net” of
tubules (stores & releases calcium) (spreads
signal)
Transverse tubules – (T tubules)
perpendicular to SR and run in between
myofibrils (brings signal in)
 Structure of Skeletal Muscle
●What would these structures be used
for?
- Activate entire fiber when contraction
occurs
[Link]
 Muscle activation
► How are muscles activated to contract?
► A motor neuron
► Each skeletal muscle fiber is connected to an
extension of a motor neuron.
● What is the neuromuscular junction?
○ Where the nerve and the muscle fiber meet
○ The two do not actually touch – Synaptic
cleft
○ How does the nerve stimulate the fiber?
■ Neurotransmitters (Acetylcholine - Ach)
 Motor Units Video
● Does each nerve only control one muscle
fiber?
○ NO, we have motor units that consists of a
motor neuron and all of the muscle fibers it
controls.
● The number of muscle fibers in a motor
unit varies considerably. Why?
○ It allows for fine and gross
motor skills
○ The fewer muscle fibers in
the motor units, the finer the
movement.
■ Examples – hands vs legs
► The number of
muscle fibers in a
motor unit varies:
► Small – two
muscle
fibers/unit
(larynx, eyes)
► Large –
hundreds to
thousands
fibers/unit
(biceps, thigh,
lower back
muscles)
 Muscle Response
● When the nerve receives an impulse, the
neuron releases the neurotransmitter into
the synaptic cleft.
● What will this cause?
○ All muscle fibers in the motor unit
contract
○ All or none response
● Does this mean entire muscle contracts?
○ NO, just the motor unit
● How do we create more force from our
muscles?
○ More motor units = More force
 Skeletal Muscle
Contraction Notes
Standard 6.4
 Skeletal Muscle Contraction
● Muscle Contraction Video
● The sliding filament theory is the most widely accepted
theory on how muscle contraction works.
● It says that the head of a myosin cross-bridge can attach
to an actin binding site and bend slightly
○ What will this cause?
■ The actin to move (or slide) with it
● The head can then release, straighten itself, and
combine with another binding site farther down the actin
filament.
○ Example, arms with a meter stick
● This can happen several times causing the muscle fiber
to shorten dramatically
- Shortening of
a sarcomere

- The Z and A
bands do
shorten slightly
during a
contraction
 Skeletal Muscle Contraction

● All of this binding and changing of shape will take

energy, where will it come from?
○ ATP
● How is ATP made? (3 ways)
● Direct Phosphorylation
○ Fastest, Lasts ~15 sec, No O2 needed
● Anaerobic glycolysis
○ Lasts ~ 30 – 60 sec, Causes lactic acid, No O2
● Aerobic respiration
○ Slowest, Lasts hours, Requires O2
 Types of
Contractions
● Two types of
contractions
● Isotonic contractions
○ Contractions that
shorten or lengthen
the muscle.
○ This is the more
common one
● Isometric contractions
○ Tension in the muscle
but no change in
length.
 Steps to Muscle Contraction
1. Nerve impulse arrives at the neuromuscular
junction releasing acetylcholine
2. Ach diffuses across the synaptic cleft,
activating the membrane (creating an action
potential)
3. The action potential is transferred through the
T tubules causing the sarcoplasmic reticulum
to be more permeable to calcium
4. Calcium binds to troponin on the actin which
changes shape thereby removing the blocking
action of the tropomyosin
Steps to Muscle Contraction
5. Myosin heads bind with the active
binding sites on the actin
6. Myosin heads, activated by the
breakdown of ATP, pull the actin inward
7. Muscle fiber shortens
8. To continue to shorten, ATP must
release the myosin head from the actin
allowing it to attach to a different binding
site
Muscle Relaxation
and Muscle Fatigue
Notes
Standard 6.5
 Muscle Relaxation
● What happens when a muscle does not need
to contract anymore?
○ Think about how it all started
○ The acetylcholine needs to be removed.
● The Ach is rapidly decomposed by action of
an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase.
(Ach-ase)
○ This enzyme is present at the neuromuscular
junction
● The Ach-ase stops a single nerve impulse
from continually stimulating the muscle fiber.
 Muscle Relaxation
○ As Ach is broken down, the calcium
2+
pump quickly moves Ca back into
the sarcoplasmic reticulum.

● What does this do?

○ The troponin and tropomyosin return
to the normal conformation, blocking
the binding sites causing the muscle
fiber to relax.
 Muscle Fatigue
● Muscle fatigue most often occurs because of
oxygen debt or ATP shortage.
● True muscle fatigue (where muscles quit
entirely) happens in marathon runners.
● O2 debt causes…?
- Anaerobic respiration – accumulation of
lactic acid
- Oxygen debt is “paid back” after activity with
heavy breathing.
● ATP shortage causes…?
- Fewer linkages to form, reducing the power
of contractions
 Muscle Fatigue
● How are people able to
“train” to prolong activity
before muscle fatigue?
What are the physiological
changes?
● Exercise stimulates new
capillaries to grow within
the muscles
● Exercise also causes an
increase in the number of
mitochondria.
 Rigor Mortis
● What is it?
● Stiffening of joints and locking into place after death.
● Why does it happen?
● As the cells begin to shut down, the sarcoplasmic
reticulum becomes permeable to Ca2+
● Causing what?- a muscle contraction
● Sets in place within a few hours of death
► Lasts ~72 hrs
 Fast and Slow Muscles
● There are two types of muscle fibers relating to the speed of
contraction.
○ Fast and Slow
● The speed of contraction is related to the specialized function
of a muscle.
○ Example: Eye muscles that blink contract ten times faster than the
muscles involved in posture.
 Fast and Slow Muscles
● Slow-contracting (slow twitch) fibers
● Often called red muscle fibers
○ Why?
○ The fibers contain red, oxygen-storing
myoglobin.
○ Well supplied with blood.
○ These depend mostly on aerobic respiration to
produce energy
● What would these be useful for?
○ Long distance running
● Fast-contracting (fast twitch) muscle fibers
● Also called white muscle fibers.
○ Why?
○ They contain less myoglobin and have a poorer
blood supply than red muscles.
● What would these be used for?
○ Sprinting
● Shown to have a very well developed sarcoplasmic
reticulum
○ Carry nerve impulse signal quickly to all muscle
fibers
Fast and Slow Muscles

● There is also an intermediate fiber.

○ How would you classify these?
○ Pink?
● These can efficiently switch from
aerobic to anaerobic respiration
Fast and Slow twitch
● Every person has all fibers, but the ratios
are different.
● How would you describe the ratio of fast
twitch to slow twitch for Usain Bolt? Ryan
Hall?
Discussion question
● We have the ability to take a
sample out of a person's muscle
and determine their ratio.
Should parents be allowed to
have this test done to their
children, so they know what
sports their kids should play?
 Muscle Hypertrophy
● Hypertrophy – increasing in size
● Occurs when more proteins are produced, not
more muscle fibers/muscle cells.
● Occurs from working muscles hard or
isometric exercises
● When worked hard the muscle becomes
damaged, which causes an increased number
of nuclei.
○ DQ - Why would increased nuclei cause
increase in muscle mass (think transcription
and translation)?
■ More nuclei would lead to more muscle
mass being made in less time
Muscle Atrophy
● Atrophy – decrease in
size
● Caused by lack of use
○ Proteins broken down
○ Use it or lose it!
● Why do muscles atrophy
as we age?
○ Skeletal muscle tissue
is replaced with
connective tissue
○ So muscles get
stringier and smaller