Muscular System A
Dr Angela Owens
Recording 1
Functions
Movement and stability
Tendons pull on bones
Pump blood or propel substances (food, faeces)
Heat generation
Generates ~30% of body heat at rest
Enzyme function (metabolism)
Glycaemic control
Absorbs large share of glucose and stores as glycogen (10 h supply)
Influence other organs (crosstalk)
Upon exercise release myokines
Mitochondria increase in number and function
Control of body openings and passages
e.g., sphincter muscles
Intramuscular injection site
Gluteus medius (thick and very vascular)
Three types
1) Cardiac
2) Smooth
3) Skeletal
Differ in structure, location, function and means of activation
Skeletal and smooth muscle CELLS are elongated and are called muscle FIBRES
(FIBERS)
Skeletal muscle tissue
Packaged into skeletal muscles that attach to and cover the bony skeleton
Stripes called STRIATIONS
Controlled VOLUNTARILY
~40% of male body weight
Skeletal muscles
Composed of 1000’s of muscle fibres surrounded and bundled by fibrous connective
tissue
Connective tissue limits the range of extensibility (stretch) and keeps it within the
contractile range of the muscle cells to avoid injury
Connective tissue layers
Endomysium
encloses single muscle fibre, blood vessels and nerves, electrically insulates each fibre
Perimysium
bundles 10-100 muscle fibres into a fascicle (grainy appearance of meat), vascular
Epimysium
covers entire muscle
Arrangement of fascicles determines the structural and functional properties of a
skeletal muscle
Connective tissue
Continuous with collagen fibres of tendons which continuous with those of periosteum
▪ Muscle contracts, pulls on collagen, moves bone
▪ Collagen extensible and elastic (recoil)
▪ Thus, tendon resists overstretching and protects muscle
Deep fascia
▪ Separates individual muscles
▪ External to epimysium
Superficial fascia (hypodermis)
▪ Separates muscles from skin
Recording 2
Muscle cells
Skeletal muscle fibres
Cylindrical, ~3 cm long
Multiple nuclei (DNA) under sarcolemma (plasma membrane) makes fibre unable to
divide (repair limited)
Sarcoplasm (cytoplasm) contains glycogen (glucose) and oxygen-binding protein called
MYOGLOBIN
Usual organelles (e.g., mitochondria), but also
▪ Sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR)
▪ T (transverse) tubules
▪ Myofibrils (30 to 1,000’s per muscle fibre)
Sarcoplasmic reticulum
Smooth endoplasmic reticulum that runs longitudinally and surrounds each myofibril
(Like sleeve of a lacy shirt over an arm)
SR sacs (cisterna) store calcium ions (Ca2+)
T Tubules
Tunnel-like infoldings of sarcolemma
Conduct electrical impulses into interior of muscle fibre
These trigger release of Ca2+ from SR
This Ca2+ triggers muscle to contract
Myofibrils
Are densely packed, rod-like, contractile organelles IN a muscle fibre (cell)
Precise arrangement generates the repeating series of dark A bands and light I bands
Aligned like cigarettes in a packet
Myofibrils are chains of contractile units called sarcomeres (train carriages, segments)
Sarcomere
Each sarcomere shortens by the sliding and overlapping of special proteins within it
A sarcomere is the region between two successive Z discs
Z-discs are a sheet of proteins
▪ Anchor point for the special proteins called Myosin and Actin that slide
Sarcomere
MYOSIN (Thick filaments)
extend entire length of dark A band
ACTIN (Thin filaments)
extend across light I band and partway into dark A band and are attached to the Z
discs
Myosin filaments
Made up of several hundred myosin molecules
Each MYOSIN molecule is like a golf club with a rod-like tail and two heads (cross
bridges)
Held in cocked position (bent elbow, mouse trap)
Actin filaments
Two strands of intertwined actin molecules
Contain
▪ Binding sites for Myosin heads
▪ Proteins TROPOMYOSIN and TROPONIN that regulate binding of Myosin heads
to Actin
Sliding filament model (1954)
In relaxed state, Actin and Myosin filaments overlap only slightly (Z discs far apart)
Upon stimulation, hundreds of Myosin heads bind to Actin and ‘crawl’ along each thin
filament (millipede)
This causes the Actin filaments to slide and overlap the Myosin filaments a lot which
shortens the sarcomere (Z discs closer together)
Each Myosin head binds and detaches several times during contraction
