Muscular System

Unit 5
• Although bones provide leverage and form the framework of the body, they cannot move
body parts by themselves.

• Motion results from the alternating contraction and relaxation of muscles, which make
up 40–50% of total adult body weight (depending on the percentage of body fat, gender,
and exercise regimen).

• The scientific study of muscles is known as myology.

• There are three types of muscular tissue—skeletal, cardiac, and smooth.

• Although the different types of muscular tissue share some properties, they differ from
one another in their microscopic anatomy, location, and how they are controlled by the
nervous and endocrine systems.

2
• Locomotion and bodily movements are characteristic features of the animals.

• The movements are affected by various cell organelles such as cilia, flagella and organs
like muscles.

• Muscular movements are more powerful and energetic.

• The muscle cells function like small motors to produce the forces responsible for the
movement of the arms, legs, heart and other part of the body.

• Thus the highly specialized muscle tissues are responsible for the mechanical processes
in the body.

3
• Based on structure, functioning and occurrence three different types of muscle
tissues have been identified.

 Skeletal muscles or striped muscles: These muscles are attached to the

bones. The muscle cells are long and cylindrical. These voluntary muscles
cause body movements.

 Visceral muscles or Non-striated muscles: These are found in the walls of

the inner organs such as blood vessels, stomach and intestine. The muscle
cells are spindle shaped. These are involuntary in nature.

 Cardiac muscle: These are found in the wall of the heart. The muscle cells are
cylindrical and branched. The muscles are involuntary in nature.

4
Functions of Muscular Tissue

Through sustained contraction or alternating contraction and relaxation, muscular tissue has
four key functions:

1. Producing body movements

 Movements of the whole body such as walking and running, and localized movements such as grasping a
pencil, keyboarding, or nodding the head as a result of muscular contractions, rely on the integrated
functioning of skeletal muscles, bones, and joints.

2. Stabilizing body positions

 Skeletal muscle contractions stabilize joints and help maintain body positions, such as standing or sitting.

3. Generating heat
 As muscular tissue contracts, it produces heat, a process known as thermogenesis.
 Much of the heat generated by muscle is used to maintain normal body temperature.
 Involuntary contractions of skeletal muscles, known as shivering, can increase the rate of heat production .

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4. Storing and moving substances within the body

 Storage is accomplished by sustained contractions of ring like bands of smooth muscle called
sphincters, which prevent outflow of the contents of a hollow organ.

 Temporary storage of food in the stomach or urine in the urinary bladder is possible because
smooth muscle sphincters close off the outlets of these organs.

 Cardiac muscle contractions of the heart pump blood through the blood vessels of the body.

 Contraction and relaxation of smooth muscle in the walls of blood vessels help adjust blood
vessel diameter and thus regulate the rate of blood flow.

 Smooth muscle contractions also move food and substances such as bile and enzymes through
the gastrointestinal tract, push gametes (sperm and oocytes) through the passageways of the
reproductive systems, and propel urine through the urinary system.

 Skeletal muscle contractions promote the flow of lymph and aid the return of blood in veins to
the heart.

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Properties of Muscular Tissue
Muscular tissue has four special properties that
enable it to function and contribute to homeostasis:

1. Electrical excitability
 This is a property of both muscle and nerve cells.
 It is the ability to respond to certain stimuli by
producing electrical signals called action
potentials (impulses).
 Action potentials in muscles are referred to as
muscle action potentials.
 For muscle cells, two main types of stimuli trigger
action potentials.
One is autorhythmic electrical signals arising
in the muscular tissue itself, as in the heart’s
pacemaker.
The other is chemical stimuli, such as
neurotransmitters released by neurons,
hormones distributed by the blood, or even
local changes in pH.
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2. Contractility
 It is the ability of muscular tissue to contract forcefully
when stimulated by an action potential.
 When a skeletal muscle contracts, it generates tension
(force of contraction) while pulling on its attachment
points.
 In some muscle contractions, the muscle develops
tension (force of contraction) but does not shorten.
 An example is holding this book in an outstretched
hand.
 In other muscle contractions, the tension generated is
great enough to overcome the load (resistance) of the
object being moved so the muscle shortens and
movement occurs.
 An example is lifting a book off a table.

3. Elasticity
 It is the ability of muscular tissue to return to its
original length and shape after contraction or extension. 8
4. Extensibility
 It is the ability of muscular tissue to stretch, within limits, without being damaged.
 The connective tissue within the muscle limits the range of extensibility and keeps it within the
contractile range of the muscle cells.
 Normally, smooth muscle is subject to the greatest amount of stretching.
 For example, each time your stomach fills with food, the smooth muscle in the wall is stretched.
 Cardiac muscle also is stretched each time the heart fills with blood.

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 Microscopic Anatomy of
a Skeletal Muscle Fiber

• The diameter of a mature skeletal muscle

fiber ranges from 10 to 100 µm.

• The typical length of a mature skeletal

muscle fiber is about 10 cm, although
some are as long as 30 cm.

• Each of the skeletal muscles is a separate

organ composed of hundreds to
thousands of cells, which are called
muscle fibers because of their elongated
shapes.

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• Because each skeletal muscle fiber arises during embryonic development from
the fusion of a hundred or more small mesodermal cells called myoblasts, each
mature skeletal muscle fiber has a hundred or more nuclei.

• Once fusion has occurred, the muscle fiber loses its ability to undergo cell
division.

• Thus, the number of skeletal muscle fibers is set before you are born, and most
of these cells last a lifetime.

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Connective Tissue Components
• Connective tissue surrounds and protects
muscular tissue.
• The skeletal muscles are attached to bones by
tendons.
• The tendons help to transfer the forces
developed by skeletal muscles to the bones.
• These muscles are covered by sheets of
connective tissue called fascia.
Tendons
 These are connective tissue structures
showing slight elasticity.
 They are like cords or straps strongly attached
to bones.
 The tensile strength of tendons is nearly half
that of steel.
 A tendon having 10 mm diameter can support
600 - 1000 kg.
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Fascia

 These are assemblages of connective

tissues lining skeletal muscles as
membranous sheets.
 The fascia may be superficial or deep.
 The superficial fascia is a layer of loose
connective tissue found in between skin and
muscles.
 The deep fascia is collagen fiber found as a
tough inelastic sheath around the
musculature.
 They run between groups of muscles and
connect with the bones.

• Fascia allows free movement of muscles;

carries nerves, blood vessels, and lymphatic
vessels; and fills spaces between muscles.

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Three layers of connective tissue extend from the fascia to
protect and strengthen skeletal muscle:

1. Epimysium
 The outermost layer of dense, irregular connective tissue,
encircling the entire muscle, is the epimysium (epi- upon).

2. Perimysium
 Perimysium (peri- around) is also a layer of dense, irregular
connective tissue, but it surrounds groups of 10 to 100 or
more muscle fibers, separating them into bundles called
fascicles (little bundles).

3. Endomysium
 Endomysium (endo- within) penetrates the interior of each
fascicle and separates individual muscle fibers from one
another.
 The endomysium is mostly reticular fibers.

• The epimysium, perimysium, and endomysium all are

continuous with the connective tissue that attaches
skeletal muscle to other structures, such as bone or
another muscle.
• For example, all three connective tissue layers may extend
beyond the muscle fibers to form a ropelike tendon that
attaches a muscle to the periosteum of a bone.
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 Nerve and Blood Supply
• Skeletal muscles are well supplied with nerves and blood
vessels.

• Generally, an artery and one or two veins accompany each

nerve that penetrates a skeletal muscle.

• The neurons that stimulate skeletal muscle to contract

are somatic motor neurons.

• Each somatic motor neuron has a threadlike axon that

extends from the brain or spinal cord to a group of
skeletal muscle fibers.

• The axon of a somatic motor neuron typically branches

many times, each branch extending to a different skeletal
muscle fiber. 15
• Microscopic blood vessels called capillaries are plentiful in muscular tissue.

• Each muscle fiber is in close contact with one or more capillaries.

• The blood capillaries bring in oxygen and nutrients and remove heat and the
waste products of muscle metabolism.

• Especially during contraction, a muscle fiber synthesizes and uses considerable

ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

• These reactions require oxygen, glucose, fatty acids, and other substances that
are delivered to the muscle fiber in the blood.

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 Microscopic Anatomy
• Dissection of a muscle fascicle under a microscope reveals that it, in turn, is composed of many
muscle fibers, or myofibers
• Each is surrounded by a plasma membrane, or sarcolemma, enveloped by a thin connective tissue
layer called an endomysium.
• Since the connective tissue of the tendons, epimysium, perimysium, and endomysium is continuous,
muscle fibers do not normally pull out of the tendons when they contract.
• Despite their unusual elongated shape, muscle fibers have the same organelles that are present in
other cells:, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, glycogen granules and others.
• Unlike most other cells in the body, skeletal muscle fibers are multinucleate— that is, they contain
multiple nuclei.
• This is because; each muscle fiber is a syncytial structure.
• That is, each muscle fiber is formed from the union of several embryonic myoblast cells.

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• When muscle cells are viewed in the electron microscope, each cell is seen to be composed of many
subunits known as myofibrils (fibrils = little fibers).
• These myofibrils are approximately 1 μm in diameter and extend in parallel rows from one end of
the muscle fiber to the other.
• The myofibrils are so densely packed that other organelles, such as mitochondria and intracellular
membranes, are restricted to the narrow cytoplasmic spaces that remain between adjacent
myofibrils.
• Each myofibril contains even smaller structures called myofilaments, or simply filaments.
• The most distinctive feature of skeletal muscle fibers, however, is their striated appearance when
viewed microscopically.
• The striations (stripes) are produced by alternating dark and light bands that appear to span the
width of the fiber.

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 ULTRASTRUCTURE OF MUSCLE

Mitochondria
Sarcoplasmic
reticulum
Thick Thin
Nucleus filament filament

T-tubules

Myofibril
Sarcolemma

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• A fluid-filled system of membranous sacs called
the sarcoplasmic reticulum or SR encircles
each myofibril.

• Dilated end sacs of the sarcoplasmic reticulum

called terminal cisterns butt against the T
tubule from both sides.

• A transverse tubule and the two terminal

cisterns on either side of it form a triad.

• In a relaxed muscle fiber, the sarcoplasmic

reticulum stores calcium ions (Ca 2+).

• Release of Ca2+ from the terminal cisterns of the

sarcoplasmic reticulum triggers muscle
contraction.

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T-tubule brings action Thin filament
potentials into interior
of muscle fiber. Sarcolemma Thick filament

Triad Sarcoplasmic reticulum Terminal

stores Ca2+ cisterna
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• When a myofibril is observed at
high magnification in longitudinal
section, the A bands are seen to
contain thick filaments.
• These are about 110 Å thick and
are stacked in register.
• It is these thick filaments that give
the A band its dark appearance.
• The lighter I band, by contrast,
contains thin filaments (from 50
to 60 Å thick).
• The thick filaments are primarily
composed of the protein myosin,
and the thin filaments are
primarily composed of the protein
actin.

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• The I bands within a myofibril are the lighter areas that extend from the edge of one stack of thick
filaments to the edge of the next stack of thick filaments.
• They are light in appearance because they contain only thin filaments.
• The thin filaments, however, do not end at the edges of the I bands.
• Instead, each thin filament extends partway into the A bands on each side (between the stack of thick
filaments on each side of an I band).
• Since thick and thin filaments overlap at the edges of each A band, the edges of the A band are darker
in appearance than the central region.
• The central lighter regions of the A bands are called the H bands (for helle, a German word meaning
“bright”).
• The central H bands thus contain only thick filaments that are not overlapped by thin filaments.
• In the center of each I band is a thin dark Z line.
• The arrangement of thick and thin filaments between a pair of Z lines forms a repeating pattern that
serves as the basic subunit of striated muscle contraction.
• These subunits, from Z to Z, are known as sarcomeres.
• A longitudinal section of a myofibril thus presents a side view of successive sarcomeres.

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Component DESCRIPTION

Narrow, plate-shaped regions of dense material that

Z discs
separate one sarcomere from the next.

Dark, middle part of sarcomere that extends entire length of

A band thick filaments and includes those parts of thin filaments
that overlap thick filaments.
Lighter, less dense area of sarcomere that contains
I band remainder of thin filaments but no thick filaments. A Z disc
passes through center of each I band.

Narrow region in center of each A band that contains thick

H zone
filaments but no thin filaments.

Region in center of H zone that contains proteins that hold

M line
thick filaments together at center of sarcomere.

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Muscle Proteins

• Myofibrils are built from three kinds of proteins:

 Contractile proteins, which generate force during contraction

 Regulatory proteins, which help switch the contraction process on and off

 Structural proteins, which keep the thick and thin filaments in the proper
alignment, give the myofibril elasticity and extensibility, and link the myofibrils to
the sarcolemma and extracellular matrix.

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 Contractile Proteins
• The two contractile proteins in muscle are
myosin and actin, components of thick and thin M line
filaments, respectively. Thick filaments
• Myosin is the main component of thick filaments
and functions as a motor protein in all three
types of muscle tissue.
• Motor proteins pull various cellular structures to
achieve movement by converting the chemical
Myosin
energy in ATP to the mechanical energy of heads
motion, that is, the production of force. Hinge
• In skeletal muscle, about 300 molecules of Myosin tail region
myosin form a single thick filament.
• Each myosin molecule is shaped like two golf Myosin molecule
clubs twisted together.
• The myosin tail (twisted golf club handles)
points toward the M line in the center of the 26
• Tails of neighboring myosin molecules lie
parallel to one another, forming the shaft of Titin
the thick filament. Thin filaments
• The two projections of each myosin molecule
(golf club heads) are called myosin heads.
• The heads project outward from the shaft in a
spiraling fashion, each extending toward one
Troponin Nebulin
of the six thin filaments that surround each
thick filament.
• Thin filaments are anchored to Z discs.
• Their main component is the protein actin.
• Individual actin molecules join to form an
G-actin molecule
actin filament that is twisted into a helix. Tropomyosin
• On each actin molecule is a myosin-binding Actin chain
site, where a myosin head can attach.

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 A band Sarcomere
Z disk Z disk

Myofibril

M line I band H zone

Titin

Z disk Z disk
M line Myosin
crossbridges
M line
Thick filaments Thin filaments

Titin
Troponin Nebulin
Myosin
heads
Myosin tail Hinge
region
Tropomyosin G-actin molecule
Myosin molecule Actin chain

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Regulatory Proteins
• Smaller amounts of two regulatory proteins—tropomyosin and troponin – are also part of
the thin filament.
• In relaxed muscle, myosin is blocked from binding to actin because strands of tropomyosin
cover the myosin-binding sites on actin.
• The tropomyosin strands in turn are held in place by troponin molecules.
• When calcium ions (Ca2+) bind to troponin, it undergoes a change in shape.
• This change moves tropomyosin away from myosin-binding sites on actin and muscle
contraction subsequently begins as myosin binds to actin.

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Structural Proteins

• Muscle contains about a dozen structural proteins, which contribute to

the
 Alignment
 Stability
 Elasticity
 Extensibility of myofibrils

• Several key structural proteins are

 Titin
 α-actinin
 Myomesin
 Nebulin
 Dystrophin

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• Titin

 is the third most plentiful protein in skeletal muscle (after actin and myosin).
 This molecule’s name reflects its huge size.
 With a molecular mass of about 3 million daltons, titin is 50 times larger than an average-sized protein.
 Each titin molecule spans half a sarcomere, from a Z disc to an M line, a distance of 1 to 1.2 µm in
relaxed muscle.
 Each titin molecule connects a Z disc to the M line of the sarcomere, thereby helping stabilize the
position of the thick filament.
 The part of the titin molecule that extends from the Z disc is very elastic.
 Because it can stretch to at least four times its resting length and then spring back unharmed, titin
accounts for much of the elasticity and extensibility of myofibrils.
 Titin
 helps the sarcomere return to its resting length after a muscle has contracted or been stretched
 helps prevent overextension of sarcomeres
 maintains the central location of the A bands

Titin

Z disk Z disk
M line Myosin
crossbridges
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• α-actinin
 The dense material of the Z discs contains
molecules of α-actinin, which bind to
actin molecules of the thin filament and to
titin.

• Myomesin
 Molecules of the protein myomesin form
the M line.
 The M line proteins bind to titin and
connect adjacent thick filaments to one
another.
 Myosin holds the thick filaments in
alignment at the M line.

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• Nebulin
 Nebulin is a long, nonelastic protein wrapped
around the entire length of each thin filament.
 It helps anchor the thin filaments to the Z
discs and regulates the length of thin
filaments during development.

• Dystrophin
 Dystrophin links thin filaments of the
sarcomere to integral membrane proteins of
the sarcolemma, which are attached in turn to
proteins in the connective tissue extracellular
matrix that surrounds muscle fibers.
 Dystrophin and its associated proteins are
thought to reinforce the sarcolemma and help
transmit the tension generated by the
sarcomeres to the tendons.

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Motor Units

• In vivo, each muscle fiber receives a single axon terminal from a somatic motor
neuron.
• The motor neuron stimulates the muscle fiber to contract by liberating
acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction.
• The specialized region of the sarcolemma of the muscle fiber at the neuromuscular
junction is known as a motor end plate.
• The cell body of a somatic motor neuron is located in the ventral horn of the gray
matter of the spinal cord and gives rise to a single axon that emerges in the
ventral root of a spinal nerve.
• Each axon, however, can produce a number of collateral branches to innervate an
equal number of muscle fibers.
• Each somatic motor neuron, together with all of the muscle fibers that it
innervates, is known as a motor unit.
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• Whenever a somatic motor neuron is
activated, all of the muscle fibers that it
innervates are stimulated to contract.

• In vivo, graded contractions of whole

muscles are produced by variations in
the number of motor units that are
activated.

• In order for these graded contractions

to be smooth and sustained, different
motor units must be activated by rapid,
asynchronous stimulation.

35
 Cardiac Muscle
• The principal tissue in the heart wall is cardiac
muscle tissue.
• Like skeletal muscle cells, cardiac (heart)
muscle cells, or myocardial cells, are striated.
• Cardiac muscle fibers have the same
arrangement of actin and myosin and the same
bands, zones, and Z discs as skeletal muscle
fibers.
• They contain actin and myosin filaments
arranged in the form of sarcomeres, and they
contract by means of the sliding filament
mechanism.
• The myocardial cells are short, branched and
interconnected. 36
• Cardiac muscle tissue has an endomysium and perimysium, but lacks an epimysium.
• Each myocardial cell is tubular in structure and joined to adjacent myocardial cells by electrical
synapses, or gap junctions.
• The gap junctions are concentrated at the ends of each myocardial cell, which permits electrical
impulses to be conducted primarily along the long axis from cell to cell.
• Gap junctions in cardiac muscle have an affinity for stain that makes them appear as dark lines
between adjacent cells when viewed in the light microscope.
• These dark-staining lines are known as intercalated discs.

37
• Electrical impulses that originate at any point in a
mass of myocardial cells, called a myocardium, can
spread to all cells in the mass that are joined by gap
junctions.

• Because all cells in a myocardium are electrically

joined, a myocardium behaves as a single functional
unit.

• Thus, unlike skeletal muscles that produces

contractions that are graded depending on the number
of cells stimulated, a myocardium contracts to its full
extent each time because all of its cells contribute to
the contraction.

• The ability of the myocardial cells to contract,

however, can be increased by the hormone
epinephrine and by stretching of the heart chambers.
• The heart contains two distinct myocardia (atria and
ventricles).
38
• Unlike skeletal muscles, which
require external stimulation by
somatic motor nerves before they
can produce action potentials and
contract, cardiac muscle is able to
produce action potentials
automatically.

• Cardiac action potentials normally

originate in a specialized group of
cells called the pacemaker.

• However, the rate of this

spontaneous depolarization, and
thus the rate of the heartbeat, is
regulated by autonomic
innervations.

39
 Smooth Muscle
• Like cardiac muscle tissue, smooth muscle tissue is usually activated
involuntarily.

• Of the two types of smooth muscle tissue, the more common type is visceral
(single-unit) smooth muscle tissue.

 It is found in the skin and in tubular arrangements that form part of the walls of small
arteries and veins and of hollow organs such as the stomach, intestines, uterus, and
urinary bladder.

 Like cardiac muscle, visceral smooth muscle is autorhythmic.

 The fibers connect to one another by gap junctions, forming a network through which
muscle action potentials can spread.

 When a neurotransmitter, hormone, or autorhythmic signal stimulates one fiber, the

muscle action potential is transmitted to neighboring fibers, which then contract in
unison, as a single unit.
40
• The second type of smooth muscle tissue, multiunit
smooth muscle tissue.

 It consists of individual fibers, each with its own motor

neuron terminals and with few gap junctions between
neighboring fibers.

 Stimulation of one visceral muscle fiber causes

contraction of many adjacent fibers, but stimulation of
one multiunit fiber causes contraction of that fiber only.

 Multiunit smooth muscle tissue is found in the walls of

large arteries, in airways to the lungs, in the arrector pili
muscles that attach to hair follicles, in the muscles of the
iris that adjust pupil diameter, and in the ciliary body
that adjusts focus of the lens in the eye.

41
• A single relaxed smooth muscle fiber is 30–200 µm
long.

• It is thickest in the middle (3–8 µm) and tapers at each

end.

• Within each fiber is a single, oval, centrally located

nucleus.

• The sarcoplasm of smooth muscle fibers contains both

thick filaments and thin filaments, in ratios between
1:10 and 1:15, but they are not arranged in orderly
sarcomeres as in striated muscle.

• Smooth muscle fibers also contain intermediate

filaments.

• Because the various filaments have no regular pattern of

overlap, smooth muscle fibers do not exhibit striations,
causing a smooth appearance.
42
• Smooth muscle fibers also lack transverse tubules and
have only a small amount of sarcoplasmic reticulum
for storage of Ca2+.

• Although there are no transverse tubules in smooth

muscle tissue, there are small pouchlike invaginations of
the plasma membrane called caveolae that contain
extracellular Ca2+ that can be used for muscular
contraction.

• In smooth muscle fibers, the thin filaments attach to

structures called dense bodies, which are functionally
similar to Z discs in striated muscle fibers.

• Some dense bodies are dispersed throughout the

sarcoplasm; others are attached to the sarcolemma.

• Bundles of intermediate filaments also attach to dense

bodies and stretch from one dense body to another.
43
• In smooth muscle, the myosin proteins of the thick
filaments are stacked vertically so that their long
axis is perpendicular to the long axis of the thick
filament.
• In this way, the myosin heads can form cross
bridges with actin all along the length of the thick
filaments.
• This is different from the horizontal arrangement of
myosin proteins in the thick filaments of striated
muscles.
• During contraction, the sliding filament mechanism
involving thick and thin filaments generates tension
that is transmitted to intermediate filaments.
• These in turn pull on the dense bodies attached to
the sarcolemma, causing a lengthwise shortening of
the muscle fiber.
• As a smooth muscle fiber contracts, it rotates as a
corkscrew turns.
• The fiber twists in a helix as it contracts, and rotates
in the opposite direction as it relaxes.
44
• The arrangement of the contractile apparatus in smooth
muscle cells, and the fact that it is not organized into
sarcomeres, is required for proper smooth muscle
function.

• Smooth muscles must be able to contract even when

greatly stretched—in the urinary bladder, for example,
the smooth muscle cells may be stretched up to two
and a half times their resting length.

• The smooth muscle cells of the uterus may be stretched

up to eight times their original length by the end of
pregnancy.

• Striated muscles, because of their structure, lose their

ability to contract when the sarcomeres are stretched to
the point where actin and myosin no longer overlap.

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• Smooth (visceral) muscles are arranged in circular layers in the walls of blood vessels and
bronchioles.
• Both circular and longitudinal smooth muscle layers occur in the tubular digestive tract, the
ureters, the ductus deferentia (which transport sperm cells), and the uterine tubes (which
transport ova).
• The alternate contraction of circular and longitudinal smooth muscle layers in the intestine
produces peristaltic waves, which propel the contents of these tubes in one direction.

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Thank u…
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