Exam 3 - Lecture 7 Flashcards
A-band on microscope
Entire dark area
Length-tension relationship
Essentially is looking at how well a muscle is being stretched out. Tension developed in % is the y axis, length of sarcomere is X axis. If its under or overstretched, you get less force.
The length-tension relationship is measuring the
active tension
Passive tension
The stretch/pulling force put on the muscle, no contraction involved (not being produced by muscle by action potential)
Active tension
Muscle contraction, when an action potential hits the muscle and causes it to shorten.
Total tension
Active + passive tension.
If you subtract passive tension from total tension, you get
active tension
If we use a really heavy weight, it’ll __________ the muscle and it ___________
Overstretch; wont contract
Load/contraction velocity diagram
Increased load = Decreased muscle contraction speed.
The heavier the load, the slower the muscle will contract.
Quantal summation
Recruiting more and more motor units (number of) to generate more muscle contraction. Regulated in a step-like fashion by recruiting additional motor units one by one, and each additional unit produces a quantum of force, and the overall force is the sum of these quanta.
Where is load/contraction velocity diagram most important?
Cardiac muscle, as excessive load (fluid) could make the heart take longer to eject the blood which interrupts the next cycle
Voltage/recruitment
Recruiting larger and larger motor units, takes more voltage to recruit the larger muscles, voltage refers to strength of electrical stimulus.
Temporal (time) summation
This involves the timing or frequency of stimulation. When stimuli are applied to a muscle in rapid succession, the muscle has less and less time to relax between stimuli. This results in increased force with each stimulus, as the twitched begin to add up (summate) over time. More frequent, the stronger the contraction.
hertz is
number of stimuli per second, so 1hz is 1 stimuli per second.
After about 10-12 hertz, the twitches become
additive and not allowing the muscle to fully relax before contracting again.
The muscle is continuing to contract, adding on top of each other.
Ca++ is coming out of the sarcoplasmic reticulum faster than it can be put back in.
Tetanization
At roughly 40hz, we have so much calcium inside the cell, we are now longer seeing twitches in the muscle because the calcium receptors in the muscle are saturated.
Generates 3x as much force as it recruits more motor units.
Tetany
State of sustained muscle contraction that occurs when stimuli are delivered so rapidly that the muscle does not have time to relax between stimuli, leading to maximal and continuous contraction. May be incomplete (slight relaxation in between stimuli) or complete (smooth, sustained contraction)
If we dont use our muscles for a long period of time, ________ can occur.
Atrophy
Atrophy leads to what specifically?
Losing the myofibrils within the cells, leading to atrophy. If its an extended period of time, the entire muscle cell can start to disappear.
Skeletal muscle cells are difficult to
replace
If you have a spinal cord injury, you’ll need to pay someone to come and _______, if you have hopes that you will someday regain the ability to move these muscles.
Stimulate your muscles with action potentials to keep them alive and prevent complete atrophy
Hypertrophy
Adding myofibrils to skeletal muscle cells.
A large part of tissue mass will be blood vessel network in skeletal muscle, increases vascular bed size.
Hyperplasia
Happens at a very low rate, creates new skeletal muscle cells.He
Heart muscle is capable of replacing _________ but happens at__________
Dead cells; a very slow rate.