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Summary of Muscular System

The function of the muscular system is movement. More than 40% of the average human
body is made of muscle. The muscular system includes thousands of small muscles throughout
the body that help to regulate blood pressure, move food through the digestive system, and
power every movement of the bodyfrom the blink of an eye to the hint of a smile. Muscle
tissue is everywhere in the body, there is three different types of muscle tissue and they are
skeletal, smooth, and cardiac. Each of these muscle tissues have different structures and play a
different role in the body.
The skeletal muscles are usually attached to the bones. They are responsible for such
voluntary movements such as dancing, eye winking, or typing on a computer. Skeletal muscle
appears to have alternating light and dark bands or stripes called striations when viewed under a
high magnification microscope. Most of the skeletal muscles are controlled by the central
nervous system. The skeletal muscle cells are big, have many nuclei, and differ in length from 1
millimeter to 30 centimeters. Complete skeletal muscles have muscle fibers, blood vessels,
nerves, and connective tissue.
Smooth muscles are not always under voluntary control. The smooth muscle cell is
spindle-shaped, is not striated, and has one nucleus. They are found in hollow structures such as
the blood vessels, small and large intestines, and stomach. The function of the smooth muscle is
to move food through the digestive tract, decrease the size of the pupils of your eye in bright
light, and control the way blood flows through your circulatory system. Most of the smooth
muscle cells can function without nervous stimulation. The smooth muscle cells connected to
one another by gap junctions which allows electrical impulses to travel directly from one muscle
to a neighboring muscle cell.
Cardiac muscle is only found in the heart of the human body. The cardiac muscle shares
features with both skeletal and smooth muscle. It has smaller cells than the skeletal muscle but I
striated like it. Cardiac muscle will usually have one nucleus but can sometimes have two. The
cardiac is usually not under the direct control of the central nervous system and are connected to
their neighbors by gap junctions, which makes it similar to smooth muscles.
The striations in skeletal muscle cells are formed by an alternating pattern of thick and
thin filaments. Myosin is a protein in the thick filaments. The protein actin makes up most of the
thin filaments. A sarcomere is the arrangement of filaments along the muscle fiber units. There is
no thin filament in the center of the sarcomere when muscles are relaxed. A muscle contracts
when the thin filaments in the muscle fiber slide over the thick filaments which is called the
sliding-filament model of muscle contraction. The energy for muscle contraction is supplied by
ATP. The cell needs plenty of ATP molecules for a strong contraction and can produce ATP two
different ways which is cellular respiration and fermentation.
The point of contact between a motor neuron and a skeletal muscle cell is called a
neuromuscular junction. Pockets, or vesicles, in the axon terminals of the motor neuron release a
neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. A muscle cell will remain contracted until the release of
the acetylcholine stops and an enzyme produced at the axon terminal destroys any remaining
acetylcholine. All of the muscles have hundreds of cells. When you lift something light, such as
a feather your brain will stimulate only a few cells in your arm muscles to contract. When you
lift something really heavy almost all of the muscle cells in your arm will stimulate to contract.
Skeletal muscles produce movement and generate force by pulling, or contracting on
body parts. Individual muscles are only able to pull in one direction. Tendons is the tough
connective tissues that skeletal muscle bones are joined to bones by. The tendons pull on the
bones and make work like livers. Most of the skeletal muscles work in opposing pairs. When the
biceps muscle contracts, it bends, or flexes, the elbow joint. When the triceps muscle contracts, it
opens, or extends, the elbow joint. In order to make the joint to move precisely the brain must
learn how to move the opposing muscle groups the right way.
Resting bone muscle is when skeletal muscle generally remain in a state of partial
contraction. It is responsible for keeping your back and legs straight and your head upright.
Regular exercise is important in maintaining muscular strength and flexibility. When muscle are
exercised daily they stay firm and increase in size and strength. Muscle that are not exercised
become weak and sometimes decrease in size. Aerobic exercises cause the bodys system to
become more proficient. For example it will help your heart and lungs become more proficient.
This will cause increase in physical endurance and have the ability to perform and activity
without weakness. Daily exercise will also strengthen your bones by making them thicker and
stronger. The stronger and thicker the bones and muscles are the less injuries you will have.
Resistance exercise, such as lifting weights will increase muscle strength and size. This
resistance exercise will increase muscle size and decrease body fat. All this exercise will help to
keep coordination and flexibility.

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