Chp 6 Contraction of Skeletal Muscle Flashcards
(88 cards)
What % of the body is:
- Skeletal Muscle
- Smooth Muscle
- Cardiac Muscle
- 40%
- 10%
- 10%
The organisation of skeletal muscle demonstrates that all skeletal muscles are composed of what ?
are composed of numerous fibers ranging from 10 to 80 micrometers in diameter…each of the fibers are made up of successively smaller subunits
Define Sarcolemma
The Sarcolemma Is a Thin Membrane Enclosing a Skeletal Muscle Fiber
The sarcolemma consists of what type of membrane? What is the outer coat made up of?
- The sarcolemma consists of a true cell membrane, called the plasma membrane.
- the outer coat made up of a thin layer of polysaccharide material that contains numerous thin collagen fibrils
What are Myofibrils composed of?
Muscle is compsed of how many Myofibrils?
Myofibrils Are Composed of Actin and Myosin Filaments.
Each muscle fiber contains several hundred to several thousand myofibrils
Define Myofibrils
myofibril : basic rod-like unit of a muscle cell. Muscles are composed of tubular cells called myocytes, known as muscle fibers in striated muscle, and these cells in turn contain many chains of myofibrils.

Each myofibril is composed of what type of Filaments and How many Filaments?
is composed of about 1500 adjacent myosin filaments and 3000 actin filaments, which are large polymerized protein molecules that are responsible for the actual muscle contraction.
- The thick filaments are?
- The thin Filaments are?
- Myosin
- Actin
Both filaments partially interdigitate causing the myofibrils to have alternate light and dark bonds

What type of Filaments are present in The light bands ?
are actin filaments and are called I bands because they are isotropic to polarized light.
What type of Filaments are present in the dark bands
contain myosin filaments, as well as the ends of the actin filaments where they overlap the myosin, and are called A bands because they are anisotropic to polarized light.
- A- for A Bands and Actin filaments, Anisotropic
Define Anisotropic
is the property of being directionally dependent, which implies different properties in different directions
Define Isotropic
- uniformity in all orientations
- having a physical property which has the same value when measured in different directions.
What is unique about Myosin filaments?
The sides of Myosin Flaments posess small projections kown as Cross-Bridges.
What causes muscular contraction ?
the interaction between myosin cross-bridges and the actin filaments causes contraction.
Sarcomere extends from start of what zone to end of which zone?
From Z line to Z line.
Remember: The Z line is in the middle of I band.
Myosin Filaments (small projections from the sides of the Myosin) are also called
heavy meromyosin
Ends of Actin Filaments extending in both directions to interdigitate with the Myosin Filaments are attached to what ?
Z- Disc

How is the Z disk different from the actin and myosin filaments ?
The Z disk, which is composed of fila-mentous proteins different from the actin and myosin filaments
The portion of the myofibril (or of the whole muscle fiber) that lies between two successive Z disks is called ?
a sarcomere.
The side-by-side relationship between the myosin and actin filaments is maintained by a large number of filamentous molecules of a protein called What?
Titin Filamentous Molecules Keep the Myosin and Actin Filaments in Place
Each titin molecule has a molecular weight of ______which makes it one of the largest protein molecules in the body
Molecular weight of about 3 million, which makes it one of the largest protein molecules in the body
Draw the approptiate organization of the Skeletal Muscle
refer to Fig 6.1

Draw teh appropriate organization of Proteins in a Sarcomere
Rerfer to Fig 6.3

What molecules act as a framework that holds the myosin and actin filaments in place so that the contractile machinery of the sarcomere will work.
Springy Titin Molecules



