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system
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.
These muscles
(hamstrings)fle
x (bend) the
Muscles
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
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.
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
Myofibril
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
SKELETAL
MUSCLES
Direction
of Muscle
Fibres
Shape
Number
of
Origins
Gluteus maximus
(largest),
pectoralis
Size
minor (small)
Example: triceps
(three heads),
biceps (two heads)
extensor
digitorum longus