Muscles and Movement

Muscles are responsible for

converting chemical potential
energy into kinetic energy of
movement.
All muscles can contract, and when they do they move a
part of the body. All human communication and expression
is due to the contraction of muscles.

There are three types of

muscle:

Smooth
Cardiac
Skeletal

Smooth Muscle:

Cells of smooth muscle

are long and tapered
and are arranged in
parallel lines in flat
sheets. Smooth muscle
cells have one nucleus
per cell and contract
involuntarily. Smooth
muscle is found in
many parts of the body:

It forms sheets of muscle in the walls of the

digestive system and digestive glands where it
helps move food along by peristalsis and causes
the secretion of digestive juices.

It is in the walls of blood vessels where it helps

to regulate blood pressure and direct blood flow
by dilating and constricting blood vessels.
It forms the sphincters of the body. These
circular muscles control the movement of fluids
through vessels and ducts as well as control the
amount of light that enters the eyes.
Found in the walls of most internal organs

Cardiac Muscle:

Cardiac Muscle cells are striated

(have bands of light and dark when
stained and viewed under a
microscope), cylindrical and
branched creating a netlike
structure.

Cardiac Muscles

There is one nucleus

per cell and these cells
will contract
involuntarily.
Cardiac muscle cells are
only found in the walls
of the heart chambers.
Cardiac muscle tissue is
responsible for the
pumping action of the
heart.
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Skeletal Muscle:

The meat of animal bodies. Skeletal muscle

cells are very long, striated and cylindrical but
unlike cardiac cells they have multiple nuclei per
cell. Skeletal muscle cells contract voluntarily
and are attached and anchored to the bones of
the skeleton.

Skeletal Muscles

There are
approximately 600
skeletal muscles in
the human body.
They bring about a
great variety of
movements such
as:

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-Movement of limbs,
locomotion of the
whole organism,
breathing
movements of the
rib cage and
diaphragm and a
wide range of facial
expressions.
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Skeletal muscles have various

other functions as well:

They support the body and enable us to

stand upright, provide protection to
organs such as the kidneys and
abdominal organs and stabilize joints by
their attachment through tendons.
Skeletal muscles also have a
homeostatic function, for example they
help to maintain body temperature by
generating heat
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Action of Skeletal
Muscles:

Muscles can only contract (i.e. shorten) therefore

they can only pull not push.

A muscles work is done during contraction

The passive state of a muscle is relaxation

A force must stretch a muscle after it has

contacted, therefore muscles work in pairs in
opposition to each other i.e. antagonistically
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Consider the movement of the

arm:

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Connective

tissue is wrapped around each

muscle fibre bundle and around the whole muscle
itself. Blood vessels and nerve fibres pass
between the bundles of muscle fibres providing
the blood supply needed to bring nutrients and
oxygen to the muscle and to trigger and control 15

Organization of skeletal
Muscle:

Muscles

themselves consist of long muscle cells

called muscle fibres. Muscle fibres can be up to 20
cm long, making them one of the largest single
cells in the body. These muscle fibres are
organized into bundles of cells called muscle fibre
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bundles.

Each muscle fibre is

itself made from
hundreds of thousands
of smaller units called
myofibrals. Each
myofibral is made up of
even finer
myofilaments. These
myofilaments contain
the proteins responsible
for muscle contraction.
Numerous mitochondia
are found within the
muscle fibre to produce
the ATP needed to
power muscle
contraction

Single muscle cell is

called a Muscle
fibre

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Flow chart of muscle

structure:
Muscle

Muscle fibre bundles

Muscle fibre
Myofibral
Myofilament
Actin and Myosin (proteins)
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Muscle Fibre (muscle cell)

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Muscle fibre contraction:

Muscle contraction is
brought about by the
coordinated action of
the two types of
myofilaments: Actin
and Myosin
The arrangement and
movement of these
myofilaments allow
them to slide past each
other
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Actin:
o

Actin myofilaments are thin consisting of

two protein strands wrapped around
each other.

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Myosin:

Myosin myofilaments are thick and

are composed of bundles of myosin
molecules.
Each myosin molecule consists of two
polypeptide chains wrapped around
each other and has a bulbous head
attached to a rod-like tail .
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Myosin

The bulbous heads of the myosin molecules

protrude from the thicker myosin myofilament at
intervals. To bring about muscle fibre contraction,
the heads of the myosin have to be attached to
binding regions on the actin myofilaments

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Actin and Myosin in a myofibril

of a muscle cell

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Actin and Myosin

arrangement

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The sliding filament

model

Contraction of the muscle

fibre begins by flexing of the
heads of the myosin
molecules backwards.
Since the heads are attached
to the actin molecules, the
actin fibres are pulled along
the myosin myofilaments.
The actin slides past the
myosin in a step by step
fashion as more and more
heads flex backwards. Flexing
of each myosin head requires
a molecule of ATP
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Z Line

Actin

Myosin

The actin myofilaments are anchored at each end

of the sacromere (muscle cell) called the Z line,
this movement pulls the z lines towards the centre
of the fibre.

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Actin and myosin myofilaments are arranged so that a

pair of actin myofilaments slide inwards over the myosin
from opposite ends of the muscle fibre, this has the effect
of shortening each muscle fibre and therefore the muscle
as a whole.

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It takes energy in the form of ATP for

the myosin heads to release from the
actin proteins and the whole process
starts again as the myosin heads
attach again and pull the muscle
fibre further along.

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Initiation and Control of Muscle

Contraction
In

the relaxed state, the myosin heads cannot

bind to the actin molecules. This is due to the
binding sites being blocked by another protein
called tropomyosin wrapped around the actin
myofilaments.

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For the muscle to contract, calcium ions (Ca2+) must bind

with another protein called troponin. When Calcium ions
bind to the troponin, this complex joins with the
tropomyosin and the tropomyosin is moved out of the way,
exposing the myosin binding sites on the actin filaments.
The myosin heads can now attach to the binding sites and
bring about muscle contraction.

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32

Sliding Filament Model

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Calcium ions are stored

in the sarcoplasm of the
muscle fibre. Ca2+ are
released when a nerve
impulse reaches the
muscle fibre causing the
muscle fibre to contract.
When the nerve
impulse stops, Ca2+ is
returned to the
sarcoplasm and stored
ready for the next
contraction
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Step 1: Calcium attaches to

troponin/ tropomyosin; they
roll away, exposing the
active site on actin.

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Step 2
Myosin cross-bridges
attach to active site on
actin.

After attachment, the

cross-bridges pivot,
pulling the thin
filaments.

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Step 3
A fresh ATP replaces the
ADP+Pi, allowing myosin
and actin to detach.

Energy from the

splitting of the fresh
ATP allows
repositioning of the
myosin head.

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Step 4

This leads back to Step

1, which continues the
cycle as long as
calcium ions are
attached to
troponin/tropomyosin.

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Energy for Muscle

Contraction:

ATP is required for muscle

contraction
It is provided in three ways:

Breakdown of creatine phosphate

Aerobic respiration
Fermentation
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Energy for Muscle

Contraction:

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Creatine phosphate:

Creatine phosphate is produced

in a resting muscle. Its
breakdown produces the
required supply of ATP for
muscle contraction.
The breakdown of creatine
phosphate is used first by a
muscle to provide an
immediate supply of energy
until sufficient oxygen is
brought to the mitochondria
and aerobic respiration occurs.
When an ample supply of
oxygen is returned to the
muscle, the creatine phosphate
molecule can be rebuilt and
stored for later use.

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Aerobic Respiration:

Most of the energy (ATP)

required for muscle
contraction must come
from aerobic respiration in
the mitochondria.
Myoglobin in the muscles
(similar to Hemoglobin)
has a high efficiency for
oxygen, and oxygen
readily moves into the
muscles for use in the
mitochondria.
In the mitochondria,
Oxygen combines with
glucose to make ATP
energy and carbon dioxide
which is excreted as waste.

Oxygen + Glucose

ATP energy
and CO2
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Fermentation:

Under extreme exercise, the body is

not able to provide enough oxygen to
the muscles for aerobic respiration.
Anaerobic respiration occurs when
there is insufficient oxygen supplied
to the muscle. Anaerobic respiration
in humans results in the production
of lactic acid.
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Lactic acid has long been thought to

causes muscle cramps and fatigue
however, it is thought that the
inability to generate enough ATP for
active transport of Ca2+ back into the
sarcoplasm may be responsible for
this. If Ca2+ remains attached to
tropomyosin, then the muscle is
unable to relax leading to cramps

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Oxygen debt:

Even after the

exercise is
complete, you still
breathe hard and
have a rapid heart
rate for several
minutes afterward.
This is the result of
oxygen debt.
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Oxygen Debt

There is a build up of lactic acid in the

muscles during an anaerobic workout, as well,
creatine phosphate stores have to be rebuilt.
Lactic acid can be broken down by combining
it with oxygen, so even after the strenuous
work is over, the body still needs a
tremendous amount of oxygen to breakdown
the lactic acid that has accumulated in the
muscle tissue
Lactic Acid + Oxygen More ATP energy
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Training by athletes reduces

oxygen deficit by:

Improving the cardio-vascular

efficiency (more oxygen can be
delivered to muscles)
Increasing the number of
mitochondria in muscle cells (more
mitochondria= more ATP)

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Muscle Twitch:

Muscles contract because of electrical nerve

impulses to the individual muscle fibres within a
muscle. A muscle will not contract unless there is
a sufficient signal from the muscles associated
nerve. This is called the threshold level.

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If the threshold level is reached, then the muscle

fibre contracts and relaxes in a fraction of a
second. Individual muscle fibres contract in an
all-or-none manner. There is the stimulus, a
small latent period, the actual contraction of the
fibre and then a relaxation period.

Individual Muscle
fibre contracting

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Stimulation of the whole muscle is

more complex. The strength of
contraction depends upon the
number of fibres that contract. If a
muscle receives a series of
stimulations, the muscle twitches
add to each other (summation) so
that the whole muscle maintains
contraction (tetanus). This continues
until the muscle fatigues.
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Multiple muscle fibres

contracting at the same
time due to multiple
stimuli (summation)
resulting in a whole
muscle contracting

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Types of Skeletal Muscle

Fibres:

Two major types of skeletal muscle

fibre have been identified:

Slow-twitch (A.K.A type I fibres)

Fast-twitch (A.K.A type II fibres)

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Slow-twitch Fibres:

Smaller fibres that tend to contract

slowly but resist fatigue.

Most helpful in endurance sports (Long Distance

running, swimming, X-country skiing).
They have more mitochondria, denser capillary
beds and contain lots of myoglobin (red meat)
because they tend to do much of their work in
the presence of oxygen (aerobic). They have
good reserves of glycogen and fats and only
fatigue when they run out of carbohydrate fuel.
Eg) Latisimus dorsi
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Fast-twitch Fibres:

Large diameter fibres adapted for

rapid generation of power such as
sprinting, weight-lifting and power
strokes such as in hockey or tennis.

They have fewer mitochondria, less dense

capillary networks and less myoglobin (white
meat) so they tend to do most of their work
anaerobically.
Reliance on anaerobic respiration causes
accumulation of lactate and therefore they
fatigue quickly.
Eg) Muscles of the eyes
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Training can change the

proportion of the different
types of fibres, but genetics
plays a much greater role
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Exercise and Muscles:

Regular exercise has two effects:

1) It increases muscle size

(hypertrophy)
2) It improves muscles ability to use
energy more efficiently (more
mitochondria and enzymes)
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1) Hypertrophy:
This is the technical term given to the
growth of muscles in size due to an
increase in the size of individual muscle
fibres (not an increase in their
number!!!).
It involves synthesis of more actin and
myosin which results in thicker
myofibrals. When the myofibrals reach a
certain size they split and the effect is the
growth of bigger, stronger muscle
fibres.
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Hypertrophy

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Atrophy:

If muscles are not used the reverse

can occur. Fibres become smaller
decreasing their strength. If muscles
are not used for prolonged time,
muscle can even die. Atrophied
muscled can be returned to a normal
state with exercise, but dead muscle
cells cannot be replaced.
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Atrophy:

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2) Increase in muscle
efficiency:

This comes about because of increases

in the number and activity of muscle
enzymes and mitochondria, an
improved vascular system and storage
of more fuel in the muscle. Training
therefore reduces the build-up of lactic
acid and prolongs the period of activity
before fatigue occurs.
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