Skeletal Muscle Tissue

Chapter 10 Part I

Overview of Muscle Tissue

Muscle (little mouse) in all its forms makes up nearly half of the bodys mass

Functions: 1) Movement attaches to the skeleton and moves the body by moving the bones 2) Maintenance of posture certain skeletal muscles contract continuously to maintain posture,sit or stand
3) Joint stabilization role of muscle tone in stabilizing and strengthening joints 4) Heat generation muscle contractions produce heat that helps maintain normal body temperature

Special Functional Characteristics

Distinguish muscle tissue from other tissues: 1) Contractility long muscle cells shorten and generate a strong pulling force as they contract 2) Excitability nerve signals or other factors excite muscle cells, causing electrical impulses to travel along the cells PM stimulating the cells to contract 3) Extensibility muscle tissue can be stretched by the contraction of an opposing muscle 4) Elasticity after being stretched, muscle tissue can recoil passively and resume its resting length

Types of Muscle Tissue

3 muscle types: Skeletal, Cardiac, and Smooth

Characterized by 2 main features: 1) the presence or absence of light and dark stripes
2) voluntary or involuntary control
- refers to the innervation of muscle tissue - voluntary innervated by voluntary motor nerves - innervated by involuntary portion of the nervous system

Muscle Tissue
Skeletal muscle tissue in the skeletal muscles - organs that attach to and move the skeleton - makes up to 40% of body weight - muscle cells are striated; under voluntary control

Cardiac muscle tissue only in the wall of the heart - cells are striated but involuntary as a rule
Smooth muscle tissue occupies the walls of hollow organs - cells lack striations and under involuntary control

Muscle Tissue Similarities

Cells of skeletal and smooth muscle tissue (except cardiac) are called fibers (elongated) In all 3 types contraction depends on 2 types of myofilaments (myo = muscle):
- one type contains actin and the other myosin - together these 2 proteins generate contractile force in every cell of the body

The PM of muscle cells is called a sarcolemma (sarcos = flesh; lemma = sheath)

- the cytoplasm is called sarcoplasm

Skeletal Muscle
Each muscle is an organ consists mostly of muscle tissue Skeletal muscle also contains: - Connective Tissue - Blood Vessels - Nerves

Basic Features of a Skeletal Muscle

Three sheaths of CT bind a skeltal muscle and its fibers together: Epimysium dense regular CT surrounds the entire muscle

Perimysium surrounds each fascicle ( group of muscle fibers)

Endomysium a fine sheath of CT wrapping each muscle cell CT sheaths are continuos with tendons

CT Sheaths in Skeletal Muscle

Epimysium, continuous with the deep fascia Perimysium surrounds a group of muscle fibers or fascicle (bundle) Endomysium (mainly reticular fibers), surrounds each muscle fiber

Figure 10.1a

Nerves and Blood Vessels

Generally each skeletal muscle is supplied by one nerve, one artery and one or more veins
- all enter or exit near the middle of its length

Nerves and BVs branch repeatedly in the intramuscular CT

- smallest branches serve individual muscle fibers - capillaries in the endomysium form a network that are wavy when muscle contracts and straight when muscle extends

Skeletal Muscle Attachments

Most muscles run from one bone to another One bone will move, the other remains fixed - origin, less movable attachment - insertion, more morable attachment

Figure 10.3

Skeletal Muscle Attachments

Muscles attach to origins and insertions by CT: - fleshy attachments: CT fibers are short - indirect attachments: CT forms a tendon or aponeurosis (a tendon sheet)

Most tendons and aponeuroses attach to bones, a few attach to skin, cartilage or sheets of fascia, or to a seam of fibrous tissue called a raphe (seam)
Bone markings reflect where tendons meet bones
- tubercles, trochanters, and crests

Microscopic and Functional Anatomy

Skeletal muscle fibers are long and cylindrical
- can be very large cells with a diameter from 10 100 m - length can be several centimeters (cm) to dozens of cm

Each cell is formed by the fusion of hundreds of embryonic cells

- cells are multinucleate - nuclei are peripherally located just deep to the sarcolemma

Diagram of Part of a Muscle Fiber

Figure 10.4b

Myofibrils and Sarcomeres

Striations result from internal structure of long rodshaped organelles called myofibrils Myofibrils make up more than 80% of the sacroplasm
- specialized contractile organelle within the muscle fiber

Myofibril is a long row of repeating segments called sacromeres (muscle segments)

- basic functional unit of contraction of skeletal muscle tissue

Sarcomere
Z disc (Z line) - boundaries of each sarcomere

Thin (actin) filaments extend from Z disc toward the center of the sarcomere
Thick (myosin) filaments are located in the center of the sarcomere
- overlap inner ends of the thin filaments - contain ATPase enzymes

Sarcomere Structure
A bands - full length of the thick filament
- includes inner end of thin filaments

H zone center part of A band where no thin filaments occur

M line in center of H zone

- contains tiny rods that hold thick filaments together

I band region with only thin filaments

- lies within 2 adjacent sarcomeres

Levels of Functional Organization in a Skeletal Muscle Fiber

Muscle Fascicle

Muscle Fiber

Myofibril

Sacromere
Copyright 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

Sarcoplasmic Reticulum and T Tubules

Sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) is a specialized smooth ER - interconnecting tubules surround each myofibril - most run longitudinally along the myofibril - some called cisternae form larger, perpendicular cross-channels over the junction between each A band and the adjacent I band (A-I junctions) - cisternae occur in pairs on either side of a Ttubule

Fig 10.4

Sarcomeres and myofilaments - responsible for the striations Z disc to Z disc: interdigitation of the thin and thick filaments Elastic filaments composed of titin molecules connect the thick filaments to the Z discs Myosin heads - small knobs project from the thick filaments

Mechanism of Contraction
SR contains calcium ions released when muscle is stimulated to contract
- calcium ions diffuse through the sarcoplasm and trigger the sliding filament mechanism - after contraction the ions are pumped back into the SR for storage

Contraction is controlled by nerve-generated impulses that travel along the sarcolemma of the muscle fiber
- impulses are further conducted by the T-tubules, invaginations of the sarcolemma - each impulse promotes release of calcium ions from the terminal cisterns

Figure 10.6

Triad: complex of a T tubule flanked by 2 terminal cisternae at each A-I junction

Mechanism of Contraction
2 types of muscle contraction:

Eccentric, muscle generates force as it lengthens

- essential for controlled movement and resistance to gravity - when muscles act like a brake, they are contracting eccentrically

Concentric, muscle shortens and does work

- explained by the sliding filament mechanism

Sliding Filament Theory

Contraction results as: Myosin heads of the thick filaments attach to actin in the thin filaments at both ends of the sacromere
- pulls the thin filaments toward the sarcomere center by swiveling inward - after a myosin head pivots at its hinge, then lets go - this action causes thick and thin filaments to slide past one another

Initiated by the release of calcium ions and the binding of the ions to thin filaments
- process powered by ATP

Sliding Filament Mechanism

Myosin heads attach to actin in thin filaments Pivot to pull the thin filaments inward toward the center of the sarcomere

Figure 10.7a

Changes in Striation During Contraction

Figure 10.8ac

Muscle Extension
Muscle is stretched by a movement opposite that which contracts it Muscle fiber length and force of contraction - greatest force produced when a fiber starts out slightly stretched so its thin and thick filaments overlap only moderately - myosin heads can pull along the entire length of the thin filaments

The Role of Titin

Titin a spring-like molecule in sarcomeres Resists overstretching Holds thick filaments in place Unfolds when muscle is stretched Refolds when the stretching force is released

Figure 10.4d

Innervation of Skeletal Muscle

Release of calcium ions from the SR is initiated by nervous stimulation The nerve cells that innervate muscle fibers are motor neurons
- each muscle fiber is served by a nerve ending, which signals the fiber to contract - point of contact between the nerve ending and muscle fiber is a neuromuscular junction or a motor end plate - the axon terminals are separated from the sarcolemma by a space called the synaptic cleft - the NT acetylcholine diffuses across the synaptic cleft binds its receptor to induce an impulse that initiates fiber contraction

The Neuromuscular Junction

Figure 10.9

An axon of a motor neuron forming 3 neuromuscular junctions (NMJs)

Motor Units

Figure 10.10

Each motor unit consists of 1 motor neuron and all the muscle fibers it innervates. Muscle fibers of a motor unit are distributed throughout the skeletal muscle