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Muscle Cells
There are three types of muscles
Skeletal: attached to bone
Cardiac: found in the heart
Smooth: surrounds hollow structures
Sacromeres
When skeletal muscles are viewed under a
microscope, they have distinct bands
called striations
They are formed by the arrangement of
myofibrils within the muscle cell
Each myofibril contains groups of long
myofilaments
Each myofilament is composed of myosin
(thick) and actin (thin) filaments
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Sacromeres
Sarcomeres are the contractile units of
muscle
Within each sarcomere the actin and
myosin filaments are arranged in a specific
manner
Sarcomeres shorten as the actin filaments
slide along the myosin filaments
Sacromeres
According to the sliding filament model,
muscle contracts when actin filaments
slide past myosin filaments
The myosin head attaches to the actin
filament forming a cross-bridge
Then it bends and swivels, pulling the actin
filament toward the midline of the cell
The movement of the myosin filament is
powered by ATP
Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
Rigor Mortis
Muscle contraction will occur as long ATP
is present
Without ATP, cross-bridges cannot be
broken
Within 3 to 4 hours after death, the
muscles become stiff (rigor mortis)
Actin and myosin gradually break down
and muscles relax again after 2 to 3 days
Neuromuscular Junction
Contraction is triggered when a nerve
impulse travels down a motor neuron until
it reaches the neuromuscular junction
At the neuromuscular junction the neural
impulse allows for the release of
acetylcholine from vesicles in the motor
neuron
Neuromuscular Junction
The acetylcholine causes changes in the
permeability of the muscle cell, resulting in
an electrochemical message similar to a
nerve impulse
The message travels along the plasma
membrane into the T-tubules and then to
the sarcoplasmic reticulum, releasing
calcium ions to allow for contraction
Muscular Dystrophy
If too many calcium ions enter the cell,
proteins may be destroyed causing the
death of the cells
Dead muscle cells are replaced by fat and
connective tissue, resulting in muscular
weakness
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is one of
the most common forms
Muscle Contraction
A motor neuron and all the muscle cells it stimulates
are called a motor unit
Muscle contraction depends on the stimulation of
motor units
The strength of muscle contraction depends on the
number of motor units that are stimulated
Muscles responsible for precise, finelycontrolled
movements have small numbers of muscle cells in
each motor unit, in contrast to muscles for less
precise movements
Fast-twitch cells
Contract rapidly and powerfully but with
much less endurance
They rely on lactic acid fermentation as their
source of energy, and therefore tire quickly
Resistance exercise
Builds strength
E.g., weightlifting