ZOOLOGY

PRE-MEDICAL
NURTURE COURSE

Study Material
Locomotion and Movement-1
(Muscle)
English Medium
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Biology : Locomotion and Movement-I
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SIR ANDREW FIELDING HUXLEY (22 November 1917 - 30 May 2012) was a

Nobel Prize winning. In 1952 he was joined by a German physiologist Rolf

Niedergerke. Together they discovered in 1954 the mechanism of muscle

contraction, popularly called the "sliding filament theory", which is the

foundation of our modern understanding of muscle mechanics.

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HUGH ESMOR HUXLEY was a British molecular biologist who made

important discoveries in the physiology of muscle. He was a graduate in

physics from Christ's College, Cambridge. He worked on X-ray diffraction

studies on muscle fibres. During his postdoctoral at Massachusetts

Institute of Technology. he, with fellow researcher Jean Hanson discovered

the underlying principle of muscle movement, popularised as the sliding

filament theory in 1954. After 15 years of research, he proposed the "Swinging cross bridge

hypothesis".

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LOCOMOTION AND MOVEMENT-I (MUSCLES)
01. INTRODUCTION
Movement is one of the significant features of living beings.
 Introduction
Animals and plants exhibit a wide range of movements.
 Types of movements Streaming of protoplasm in the unicellular organisms like
 Muscles Amoeba is a simple form of movement. Movement of cilia,
 Disorders of muscular flagella and tentacles are shown by many organisms. Human
system beings can move limbs, jaws, eyelids, tongue, etc. Some of the
movements result in a change of place or location. Such
 Properties of muscles
voluntary movements are called locomotion. Walking, running,

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climbing, flying, swimming are all some forms of locomotory
movements.
Locomotory structures need not be different from those affecting other types of movements. For
example, in Paramoecium, cilia helps in the movement of food through cytopharynx and in
locomotion as well. Hydra can use its tentacles for capturing its prey and also use them for
locomotion. We use limbs for changes in body postures and locomotion as well. The above
observations suggest that movements and locomotion cannot be studied separately. The two may be
linked by stating that all locomotions are movements but all movements are not locomotions.

Methods of locomotion performed by animals vary with their habitats and the demand of the
situation. However, locomotion is generally for search of food, shelter, mate, suitable breeding
grounds, favourable climatic conditions or to escape from enemies/predators.

02. TYPES OF MOVEMENT

Cells of the human body exhibit three main types of movements, namely, amoeboid, ciliary and
muscular.

(1) AMOEBOID MOVEMENT

Some specialised cells in our body like macrophages and leucocytes in blood exhibit amoeboid
movement. It is effected by pseudopodia formed by the streaming of protoplasm (as in
Amoeba). Cytoskeletal elements like microfilaments are also involved in amoeboid movement.

(2) CILIARY MOVEMENT

Ciliary movement occurs in most of our internal tubular organs which are lined by ciliated
epithelium. The coordinated movements of cilia in the trachea help us in removing dust
particles and some of the foreign substances inhaled along with the atmospheric air. Passage of
ova through the female reproductive tract is also facilitated by the ciliary movement.
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(3) MUSCULAR MOVEMENT
Movement of our limbs, jaws, tongue, etc. require muscular movement. The contractile
property of muscles are effectively used for locomotion and other movements by human beings
and majority of multicellular organisms.

Flagellar movement helps in the swimming of spermatozoa, maintenance of water current in

the canal system of sponges and in locomotion of Protozoans like Euglena.

Locomotion requires a perfect coordinated activity of muscular, skeletal and neural systems. In
this chapter, you will learn about the types of muscles, their structure, mechanism of their

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contraction and important aspects of the skeletal system.

03. MUSCLES
 Study of muscles known as Myology.
 Myology also known as Sarcology.
 All muscles of body develop from mesoderm. (Except muscle of ciliary body and iris.)
 They have special properties like excitability, contractility, extensibility and elasticity.
 About 40-50 percent of the body weight is contributed by muscles.
Three types of muscles are found in the body.
(i) Voluntary or skeletal muscles.
(ii) Involuntary or smooth muscles.
(iii) Cardiac muscles.

(1) SKELETAL MUSCLES

 They are related to the skeletal system, so also called as skeletal muscles.
 Transverse lines are found at regular interval. Hence these muscles are also called as
striped or striated muscle.
 They are primarily involved in locomotory actions and changes of body postures.
 Their contractions are controlled by will power of animal so also called voluntary muscles.
 Muscle fibre is covered by a layer of connective tissue which is called endomysium.
 Many muscle fibres are combined to form a group which is called fasciculi.
 Each fasciculi is covered by a layer of connective tissue which is called perimysium.
 Many fasciculi combined to form a muscle.
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 Muscle is also covered by a layer of connective tissue which is called as epimysium.
 The muscle fibres attached to a tough cord of connective tissue called tendon. Tendon is
further attached with a bone.
(A) Structure of muscle fibre :

Epimysium
Perimysium
Endomysium
Fascicle
(muscle bundle)
Muscle fibre
(muscle cell)

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Sarcolemma
Blood capillary

Diagrammatic cross sectional view of a muscle showing muscle bundles and muscle fibres
NCERT XI Page No. 219, Figure No. 17.1

(a)
Z line A band I band

H zone
Sarcomere
(b)
Diagrammatic representation of (a) anatomy of a muscle fibre showing a sarcomere
(b) a sarcomere
NCERT XI Page No. 220, Figure No. 17.2

Fine structure of muscle fibre :-

 Skeletal muscle fibre is cylindrical or tubular in shape and is long and unbranched.
 The outer membrane of muscle fibre is called sarcolemma.
 This cell membrane contain collagen fibres.
 Each muscle fibre contain multinucleated sarcoplasm.
 Nucleus & sarcoplasm are found in peripheral part.

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 Myofibril are arranged in parallel rows & form the dark & light band.
These bands are found in alternate order.
These bands are made up of actin & myosin protein. Both proteins are filamentous
proteins.
 Actin filaments are thin while myosin filaments are thick.
 Light line or band is made up of only actin filament, these band are mono-refractive in
polarised light so it is called Isotropic band (I band).
 In the centre of each ‘I’ band is an elastic fibre called ‘Z’ line which bisects it. The thin
filaments are firmly attached to the ‘Z’ line. The thick filaments in the ‘A’ band are also
held together in the middle of this band by a thin fibrous membrane called ‘M’ line. The
‘A’ and ‘I’ bands are arranged alternately throughout the length of the myofibrils. The

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portion of the myofibril between two successive ‘Z’ lines is considered as the functional
unit of contraction and is called a Sarcomere. In a resting state, the edges of thin
filaments on either side of the thick filaments partially overlap the free ends of the thick
filaments leaving the central part of the thick filaments. This central part of thick filament,
not overlapped by thin filaments is called the ‘H’ zone.
 Sarcomere is considered as the functional unit of muscle contraction.
 1 Myosin filament is surrounded by 6 Actin filaments & 1 Actin filament is surrounded by
3 Myosin filaments.
 Z-disc is made up of actinin protein.
(B) Structure of contractile protein :
(a) Actin (Thin) filament)
Each actin (thin) filament is made up of two ‘F’ (filamentous) actins helically wound
to each other. Each ‘F’ actin is a polymer of monomeric ‘G’ (Globular) actins.
Two filaments of another protein, tropomyosin also run close to the ‘F’ actins
throughout its length.
A complex protein Troponin is distributed at regular intervals on the tropomyosin.
In the resting state a subunit of troponin masks the active binding sites for myosin
on the actin filaments.

Troponin
Tropomyosin

An actin filament F actin

NCERT XI Page No. 221, Figure No. 17.3 (a)

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Troponin is made up of three subunit.
(a) Troponin I (Inhibitory site) (b) Troponin T (Tropomyosin site)
(c) Troponin C (Ca+2 binding site)

(b) Myosin (Thick) Filament

Actin binding sites

Head

ATP binding sites

Cross arm
Myosin monomer (Meromyosin)

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NCERT XI Page No. 221, Figure No. 17.3 (b)

Each myosin (thick) filament is also a polymerised protein. Many monomeric

proteins called Meromyosins constitute one thick filament.
Each meromyosin has two important parts, a globular head with a short arm and a
tail, the former being called the heavy meromyosin (HMM) and the latter, the light
meromyosin (LMM).
The HMM component, i.e.; the head and short arm projects outwards at regular
filament and is known as cross arm.
The globular head is an active ATPase enzyme and has binding sites for ATP and
active sites for actin.
(C) Mechanism of muscle contraction :
 Mechanism of muscle contraction is best explained by the sliding filament theory which
states that contraction of a muscle fibre takes place by the sliding of the thin filaments
over the thick filaments.
 Muscle contraction is initiated by a signal sent by the central nervous system (CNS) via a
motor neuron. A motor neuron along with the muscle fibres connected to it constitute a
motor unit. The junction between a motor neuron and the sarcolemma of the muscle
fibre is called the neuromuscular junction or motor-end plate. A neural signal reaching
this junction releases a neurotransmitter (Acetylcholine) which generates an action
potential in the sarcolemma.
 This spreads through the muscle fibre and causes the release of calcium ions into the
sarcoplasm.
 Increase in Ca++ level leads to the binding of calcium with a subunit of troponin on actin
filaments and thereby remove the masking of active sites for myosin.

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 Utilising the energy from ATP hydrolysis, the myosin head now binds to the exposed
active sites on actin to form a cross bridge.
 This pulls the attached actin filaments towards the centre of ‘A’ band.
 The ‘Z’ line attached to these actins are also pulled inwards thereby causing a shortening
of the sarcomere, i.e., contraction.
 During shortening of the muscle (contraction), the ‘I’ bands get reduced, whereas the ‘A’
bands retain the length.
 The myosin, releasing the ADP and Pi goes back to its relaxed state. A new ATP binds and
the cross-bridge is broken.
 The ATP is again hydrolysed by the myosin head and the cycle of cross bridge formation
and breakage is repeated causing further sliding.

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 The process continues till the Ca++ ions are pumped back to the sarcoplasmic cisternae
resulting in the masking of actin filaments.
 This causes the return of ‘Z’ lines back to their original position, i.e., relaxation.
 Repeated activation of the muscles can lead to the accumulation of lactic acid due to
anaerobic breakdown of glycogen in them, causing fatigue.
Role of ATP :
(a) The 'back & forth' movement of myosin head with in the groove.
(b) Detachment of myosin head from the actin.

Actin filament
P ADP

Myosin
filament
(1)

ATP Cross bridge Myosin head

(Breaking of cross bridge) (Formation of cross bridge)

(4) (2)
P
ADP

Sliding / rotation
(3)
Stages in cross bridge formation, rotation of head and breaking of cross bridge
NCERT XI Page No. 222, Figure No. 17.4

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I band
H band A band

Relaxed

Z line Z line Z line

Contracting

Maximally

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Contracted

Two Sarcomeres
NCERT XI Page No. 223, Figure No. 17.5

(2) SMOOTH MUSCLE

 It is not related to the skeleton so also called as Non skeletal muscle.
 These muscle are found in the visceral organ so are called as visceral muscles or smooth
muscles.
 Transverse lines are absent so also called as unstriated muscle.
 Its contraction is not controlled by will power of animal. so it is called as Involuntary muscle.
 Autonomic nerves are connected to this type of muscle.

Structure of smooth muscle fibre

Thick/Thin filament
 It is short, spindle shaped, unbranched.
 Cells are connected through gap junction. Plasma
membrane
 It contains uninucleated cytoplasm.
 All cell organelles are found in cytoplasm.
Uninucleated
 Myofibril are made up of actin & myosin but sarcoplasm
remarkably less than skeletal muscle But
filaments are not placed in a highly ordered Gap junction
pattern so striation is absent.
 Actin is more than myosin.
 Myofibril is functional unit of involuntary muscle.
Smooth muscle fibre

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 The sarcoplasmic reticulum or L tubular system is not well developed. This makes the
contraction of smooth muscles strongly dependent on the ECF Ca++ ions.
 Visceral muscles are located in the inner walls of hollow visceral organs of the body like the
alimentary canal, reproductive tract, etc. They do not exhibit any striation and are smooth in
appearance. Hence, they are called smooth muscles (nonstriated muscle). Their activities are
not under the voluntary control of the nervous system and are therefore known as involuntary
muscles. They assist, for example, in the transportation of food through the digestive tract and
gametes through the genital tract.

(3) CARDIAC MUSCLE

 As the name suggests, Cardiac muscles are the muscles of heart.

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 Many cardiac muscle cells assemble in a branching pattern to form a cardiac muscle.
 Based on appearance, cardiac muscles are striated.
 They are involuntary in nature as the nervous system does not control their activities directly.
 Their muscle fibres are long, cylindrical and branched.
 Many transverse septa are found in the muscle fibre which are called as intercalated disc.
 Due to septa fibres are divided into many segments each segment is uninucleated. Each
segment called individuals cells.
 Dark & light bands also found in the Muscle fibre. It is also non fatigue type muscle.
 Both central nerves and autonomic nerves are supplied to this type of muscles.

Cardiac Muscle Cell Branch

Sarcolemma

Connective Tissue Intercalated disc

Nucleus

Dark Band

Light Band

Cardiac muscle fibres

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Striations Smooth Striations

muscle
fibers Nucleus

Intercalated disc
Nucleus

(a) (b) (c)

Muscle tissue : (a) Skeletal (striated) muscle tissue
(b) Smooth muscle tissue, (c) Cardiac muscle tissue
Old NCERT XI Page No. 105, Figure No. 7.7

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04. DISORDERS OF MUSCULAR SYSTEM
Myasthenia gravis: Auto immune disorder affecting neuromuscular junction leading to fatigue,
weakening and paralysis of skeletal muscle.
Muscular dystrophy: Progressive degeneration of skeletal muscle mostly due to genetic disorder.
Tetany: Rapid spasms (wild contractions) in muscle due to low Ca++ in body fluid.

BEGINNER’S BOX MUSCLES

1. Functionally cardiac muscles are similar to–

(1) Unstriped muscles (2) Striped muscles
(3) Striped & Unstriped muscles (4) None
2. Covering of muscle–
(1) Epimysium (2) Perimysium (3) Endomysium (4) Sarcolemma
3. Myofibrils contain–
(1) Actin (2) Myosin (3) Troponin (4) All of above
4. During contraction of muscles–
(1) Actin Filament slide over actin (2) Myosin filament slide over actin
(3) Actin filament slide over myosin (4) Myosin filament slide over actin
5. Unstriped muscle are also known as–
(1) Visceral (2) Smooth (3) Involuntary (4) All
6. Contractile unit of muscle fibres–
(1) H - line (2) Sarcomere (3) H - zone (4) I - band
7. ATP-ase activity found in–
(1) Myosin filament (2) Actin filament (3) Both (4) None

BEGINNER’S BOX ANSWER KEY

MUSCLE
Que. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Ans. 1 1 4 3 4 2 1
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