musculoskeletal system Flashcards
(142 cards)
why do skeletal muscles appear striated under the microscope?
- highly organised nature of sarcomeres
- actin & myosin are arranged in an orderly structure within the sarcomeres
what are actin & myosin?
contractile proteins
why are smooth muscles not striated?
actin & myosin are arranged irregularly so they appear uniform under a microscope
3 types of muscle tissue
- skeletal
- cardiac
- smooth
skeletal muscle
- long cylindrical cells
- many nuclei per cell (lots of satellite cells fused together)
- striated due to sarcomeres
- voluntary
- rapid contractions
- limbs, face…
cardiac muscle
- branching cells
- 1 or 2 nuclei per cell
- striated
- involuntary
- medium speed contractions
- only in the heart
why does cardiac muscle have branching cells?
to facilitate uniformal contractions
why are cardiac muscles always slightly contracted?
to prevent fully emptying a chamber in the heart
smooth muscle
- fusiform cells
- one nucleus per cell
- non striated (actin & myosin irregularly arranged)
- involuntary
- slow, wave like contractions
- GI tract / organs
what is an isometric contraction?
- produces no movement
- while standing, sitting & posture
- force produced with no change
what is an isotonic contraction?
- produces movement
- walking, moving anything in the body
what is an isokinetic contraction?
moving with the same constant velocity
what does the Z disc do?
- stabilised / hold actin filaments together
- allows transfer of forces between sarcomeres
what does a myosin molecule consist of?
- 2 twisted together
- has a tail and head
- head = attaches to actin molecules
what does the thin (actin) filament consist of?
- 2 twisted actin molecules
- troponin complex
- tropomyosin
- G actin
what does the thick (myosin) filament consist of?
myosin molecules with globular heads (pointing outwards) which form cross-bridges with / can attach to actin molecules
troponin complex
- protein needed for muscle contraction
- calcium binds to it to trigger musclular force
- in thin filament
tropomyosin
- proteins
- regulates muscle contraction by mediating interactions between troponin complex and actin
- in thin filament (actin)
H band
- zone of thick filaments with no actin
- M line in H band
M line
- middle of sarcomere
- formed by cross connecting elements of cytoskeleton
what does the addition of calcium trigger?
- activates the contractile proteins (troponin complex)
- muscle contraction
what is meant by the term motor unit?
motor unit describes a functional group comprised of a motor neuron and its axons (branching into the muscle) and the innervated muscle fibres
what do cardiac muscle fibres determine?
they organise how cardiac output is produced
parts of the skeletal system
- bones
- joints
- cartilages
- ligaments