Muscular

system

The Muscular System

Types of muscles
Definition and nomenclature of the skeletal
muscles
Types of muscle attachments-- origin & insertion
Shapes and arrangement of muscle fibers
Major skeletal muscles in different regions of the
body:
Muscle groups in upper limb.
Muscle groups in lower limb
Muscle groups in thorax and abdomen
Muscle groups in head and neck
Nerve supply of the muscles.

Muscles-MUSCULUS- little mouse

MYOLOGY: the study of muscles. Word roots: sarco, myo.
Muscle is a contractile tissue of the body, derived from the
mesodermal layer of embryonic germ cells.(few exceptions)
Muscles are responsible for all types of body movements and are
distributed almost everywhere in the body.
There are about 600 skeletal muscles in the body, attached to bones.
Muscles make up about 40% 50% of total adult body weight.
Sartorius is the longest muscle in the body
Stapedius is the smallest muscle in the body
Gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body

Special Properties of Muscle Tissue

Excitability/Irritability ability to receive and respond to a
stimulus.
Contractility causes the fiber to contract/shorten when
stimulated.
Elasticity is the muscles ability to return to its original length
when tension is released.
Extensibility is ability of being stretched or extending in
length in response to the contraction of opposing muscle
fibers.

Anatomy of Muscle - Classification

According to:
Control
Voluntary - skeletal muscles
Involuntary cardiac and smooth muscle
Microscopic anatomy
Striated skeletal and cardiac muscle
Smooth smooth muscle
Association
Skeletal - associated with the bony skeleton & body wall
Visceral associated with organs and blood vessels
Cardiac associated with the heart

Function of Skeletal Muscles

A muscle is an organ specialized to move a body part; muscle
contraction serves the following functions:
1. Movement: Muscles enable us to move from place to place. Muscle
contraction regulates organ volume and moves body contents in the
course of respiration, circulation, digestion, elimination, and birth.
2. Stability: Muscles maintain posture and hold joints in place by
maintaining tension on tendons.
3. Control of body openings and passages: Muscles encircle openings
and passages in the body, controlling flow of materials in, out, or
through the body.
4. Heat production: Skeletal muscles produce as much as 85% of body
heat.
5. Communication: Muscles are used for facial expression, body
language, writing, and speech.

Producing movement
Skeletal muscles produce movements by exerting force on tendons, which
in turn pull on bones or other structures (such as skin).
Muscle tissue is only able to generate a
force while it is contracting, meaning
that muscles are unable to push.
Skeletal movements can only be
produced by muscles pulling bones.

This muscle
(Quadriceps)
extends
(straightens) the
leg.

Therefore movement about the joints

in the body requires a minimum of
two muscles; one to generate a force
in each plane of movement.
Most joints use pairs of muscles
acting in opposite directions to generate movement.
Such muscles are known as antagonistic pairs.

These muscles
(hamstrings)fle
x (bend) the

Muscles

The muscles tissue is composed of cells containing contractile proteins.

It is a contractile tissue which brings about the movements of organs
and body as whole.
There are three different types of muscle tissue:
Smooth

muscle.

Skeletal

muscle.

Cardiac

muscle.

Cardiac muscle
Cardiac muscle is only found in the heart,
arranged in thick bundles.
Fibres are striated, short and thick,
branched and they have only one central
nucleus.
Adjacent muscle fibers are joined together
at gap junctions called intercalated discs.
Cardiac muscle contracts rhythmically
throughout its lifespan and does not become
fatigued.
Cardiac muscle is myogenic. It has a pacemaker that initiates each
contraction. This built-in rhythm is termed autorhythmicity.

Smooth Muscle
Located in the walls of hollow internal structures, such as
blood vessels, airways, and most organs in the abdominopelvic cavity.
Cells are small, spindle-shaped called fibres with one central
nucleus
No connective tissue coverings
Involuntary and Non-striated, has thick and thin
filaments but no sarcomeres
Cells are usually arranged into sheets of opposing
fibres, forming a longitudinal and a circular layer.
Contraction of the opposing layers of muscle
causes peristalsis, which propels substances
through the organs.

Skeletal muscle
Skeletal muscle is an organ composed of cells, which
are multinucleated and striated. The cells are called
muscle fibers because of their elongated shapes.
The typical length of a mature skeletal muscle fiber
varies from 10 cm to 30 cm.
Skeletal muscle fibers cannot divide and have
limited powers of regeneration

The muscle fiber has many nuclei because each muscle fibre arises,
during embryonic development; from the fusion of a hundred or more
small mesodermal cells called myoblasts.
Skeletal muscles are commonly used for giving intramuscular injections,
e.g. deltoid muscle in shoulder region, gluteus medius muscle in buttock
region and vastus lateralis in the thigh region.

Skeletal Muscle - striated muscles

Connective Tissues of a Muscle
Three layers of connective tissue extend from the
fascia to protect and strengthen skeletal muscle
Endomysium surrounds each muscle cell/fibre,
Perimysium surrounds groups of 10 to 100 or
more muscle fibers, separating them into bundles
called fascicles
Epimysium surrounds the whole muscle.
At the junction of a muscle belly
with a tendon, the fibers of
endomysium, perimysium and
epimysium become continuous
with the fibers of the tendon that
attaches the skeletal muscle to
bone.

Skeletal Muscle
Skeletal muscles are attached to bones through extensions of their
connective tissue. There are two ways a muscle can attach to a bone:
Direct: the epimysium fuses with the periosteum (e.g. intercostal
muscles)
Indirect: the connective tissue of the muscle forms a rope-like
tendon, (e.g. biceps brachii attachment to scapula), or
aponeurosis, sheet-like structure that attaches to the bone, cartilage,
muscle, fascia or skin, e.g. Abdominal muscles
Indirect attachments are small in size, and save space.
Skeletal muscle activity is controlled by the somatic (voluntary)
division of the nervous system.

Skeletal Muscle attachments

Skeletal muscles span joints and is attached to a bone at either end by
a tendon. When the muscle contracts, one of the bone moves relative
to the other at the joint.
The muscle has two attachments on bones:
Origin: Attachment on the less movable bone
Insertion: Attachment on the more movable bone,
In limb muscles origin usually lies proximal to insertion
During movement insertion is pulled toward the origin
Muscle has two parts:
Belly: is the fleshy contractile part and is
generally attached on the bone that is
proximal to the bone that is to be moved.
Tendon: spans the joint and is attached on the
bone that is to be moved.
A flattened tendon it is called aponeurosis.

Skeletal Muscle- basic terms

Skeletal muscle cell or Myofibre is large, cylindrical with multiple
peripheral nuclei beneath the plasma membrane or sarcolemma (sarcflesh; -lemma sheath)
Sarcoplasm, the cytoplasm of a muscle cell
Sarcoplasmic reticulum: smooth endoplasmic reticulum of the muscle.it
stores calcium ions (Ca2). Release of Ca2 from the sarcoplasmic reticulum
triggers muscle contraction.
Myofibrils, are present in the muscle fibre. They are the the contractile
organelles of skeletal muscle
Myofilaments make up the myofibrils and consist of thick (Myosin) and
thin (Actin) filaments.
T- tubules: Tiny invaginations of the sarcolemma, tunnel in from the
surface toward the center of each muscle fiber.
Striations are due to a repeating series of dark A bands and light I bands.

Functional unit-Sarcomere
Sarcomere -muscle segment= the basic unit of contraction of
skeletal muscle; it is the region of a myofibril between two
successive Z discs.
Has Thin (Actin) Filaments that extend from Z disc toward the center
of the sarcomere and Thick (Myosin) filaments located in the center
of the sarcomere; they overlap inner ends of the thin filaments
Each myofibril has linear arrangement of up to 10,000 sarcomeres
Striated (striped/banded) appearance is due to arrangement of thick
and thin filaments, organized in repeating functional units
During contraction, there is no shortening of individual thick and thin
filaments. The sliding of the thick and thin filaments is responsible
for skeletal muscle contraction

Microscopic Anatomy - Sarcomere

Myofibril

Myofilaments organized in repeating functional units give

the muscle its striped appearance

Group Action of Muscles

Skeletal muscles function in groups whose
combined action produces the coordinated
movement at a joint. Each movement is brought
about by a coordinated activity of different
group of muscles. These muscle groups are
classified according to the role played by them
in the occurrence of a particular action:
Prime mover (Agonist) These muscles are
primarily responsible for producing a desired
movement, e.g. biceps brachii is the prime
mover when it produces flexion at the elbow
joint. Prime movers bring the insertion near its
origin.

Antagonists for one

movement can be
agonists for

 Antagonist: An antagonist is the muscle which is able to produce

movement opposite to a prime mover. Usually, the two muscles
agonist and antagonist act together so that when the prime mover
contracts, its antagonist undergoes relaxation. In this way an accurate
controlled movement is carried out, e.g. in flexion of elbow, triceps is
an antagonist.
Antagonists for one movement can be agonists for another movement.
The biceps and triceps muscles reverse their roles, in extension of
elbow.
Synergist the undesired movement at a joint is prevented by
synergists so that the prime mover can function properly, e.g. when
clenching the fist; the extensors of the wrist, contract as synergists to
prevent wrist flexion.
Fixator A muscle is said to act as a fixator when it contracts to
stabilize the origin of the prime mover so that it can act efficiently,
e.g. the muscles attaching the shoulder girdle to the trunk (trapezius,
pectoralis major) contract as fixators to allow the deltoid to act on the
shoulder joint to produce abduction.

Muscle Innervation

The innervation of a muscle refers to the identity of the nerve that stimulates it;
muscles are innervated by two general groups of nerves.

1. Cranial nerves: 12 pairs, arise from the base of the brain, emerge through the
skull foramina, and innervate muscles of the head and neck.

2. Spinal nerves arise from the spinal cord, emerge through intervertebral
foramina, and innervate muscles below the neck.
a. Immediately after emerging from an intervertebral foramen, each spinal
nerve branches into a dorsal and ventral ramus.
b. The term plexus refers to networks of spinal nerves adjacent to the
vertebral column through which the limbs are innervated.
Brachial plexus supplies the Upper limbs
Lumbo-Sacral plexus supplies the Lower limbs
The neurons that stimulate skeletal muscle to contract are somatic motor
neurons. The axon of a somatic motor neuron typically branches many times,
each branch extending to a different skeletal muscle fiber. The muscle fibers will
atrophy if they are not periodically stimulated to contract.

Spinal nerves

Cranial nerves

Naming Muscles

Names provide clues to the identification of

muscles

Example: flexor and

extensor (flexes or
extends a bone) Action
Flexor pollicis longus

Many muscles are

named for bones
(e.g., temporalis)
Locatio Palmer interosseous
n
muscle, Intercostals

SKELETAL
MUSCLES

Example: sterno- Origin

hyoid (on the and
sternum and Insertio
hyoid bone),
n
Sternocliedomast
oid
Example: deltoid
(triangular),
rhomboid major

Direction
of Muscle
Fibres

Example: rectus (straight),

External Oblique

Shape

Number
of
Origins

Gluteus maximus
(largest),
pectoralis
Size
minor (small)

Example: triceps
(three heads),
biceps (two heads)

Muscle types based on

Arrangement of Fascicles

ARRANGEMENT OF SKELETAL Muscle

FIBRES
The arrangement of muscle fibers in individual muscles varies
a great deal and is often dependent upon the function of the
muscle concerned. Arrangement of fascicles determine in part
the strength of a muscle and the direction of its pull. Muscles
can be classified as:
Parallel fasciculi: The muscle fibers or fasciculi are parallel
to the line of muscle pull. Such muscles contract over a great
distance (i.e. they have maximum range of movement) and
have good endurance. They may be:
(a) Quadrilateral, e.g. thyrohyoid, pronator quadratus.
(b) Strap-like, e.g. infrahyoid muscles, zygomaticus,
sartorius.
(c) Strap-like with tendinous intersections, e.g. rectus
abdominis.
(d) Fusiform, e.g. biceps, diagastric.

 Convergent fasciculi: The muscle fibers or fasciculi converge at the

insertion point to maximize contraction. This arrangement makes the
muscle very powerful, although the range of movement is reduced;
such muscles may be:
(a) Triangular, e.g. adductor longus, deltoid.
(b) Fan-shaped, e.g. temporalis, pectoralis major.
Spiral or twisted fasciculi: In some muscles the fibers are twisted
or spiraled, e.g. trapezius, latissimus dorsi, pectoralis major,
supinator.
Cruciate muscles: In some muscles, fibers or fasciculi are arranged
in superficial and deep planes and crossed X, e.g. sternocleidomastoid, masseter, adductor magnus.

Sphincteric (circular) fasciculi: In some muscles, the muscle

fibers or fasciculi surround an opening or orifice, thus when they
contract the opening is closed or constricted, e.g. orbicularis oculi
around the eye and orbicularis oris surrounding the oral orifice.

Pennate fasciculi: (feather-shaped); The fleshy fibers

correspond to the bars of the feather and insert obliquely
on the tendon, like the shaft of the feather. The pennate
muscles have many short fascicles fibers per unit area,
hence they are strong muscles. They may be:
Unipennate when fibers have a linear origin and
approach the tendon from one side (one-half of a
feather), e.g. extensor digitorum longus, flexor
pollicis longus, peroneus tertius, palmar
interossei.
Bipennate when the arrangement of the fibers is on
both sides of a central tendon; e.g. flexor hallucis
longus, dorsal interossei, retus femoris.
Multipennate-- when septa (partitions) extend into the
origin and the insertion. The arrangement of
fibers is such that it provides the appearance of
many feathers; e.g. deltoid

extensor
digitorum longus