July 31, 2013

Chapter 8: Muscular System

3 layers of connective tissue sheaths in Skeletal muscle:
1.) Epimysium surrounds the whole muscle
2.) Perimysium Surrounds individual fascicles
3.) Endomysium surrounds individual muscle fibers
Covering in Cardiac and Smooth muscle
1.)
Myofilaments:
1.) Thick filament
a. Myosin looks like a golf club head
i. Heavy meromyosin subunit
ii. Light meromyosin subunit
2.) Thin filament
a. Actin looks like a string of pearls
i. G-Actin Single globular headed actin
ii. F-Actin a chain of G-Actin
b. Troponin a regulatory protein,
i. Troponin T (TnT) troponin associated with tropomyosin
ii. Troponin C (TnC) troponin that has binding sites for calcium
iii. Troponin I (TnI) inhibitory component
c. Tropomyosin elongated structures, a regulatory protein, blocks the myosin binding
sites when muscles are relaxed.
i. Myosin binding sites represented by black dots
Muscle organelles:
1.) Sarcoplasm found in between the Z-discs
Organization of muscle:
1.) Myofilaments
a. Myofibril basic rod-like unit of a muscle
i. Sarcomere is the basic unit of muscle
1. Muscle fibers
a. Fascicles
i. Whole muscle
4 outstanding properties that is observed in muscles:
1.) Excitability the capacity to respond to a stimulus
2.) Contractility - the ability to shorten
3.) Extensibility the ability to recoil or spring back to its original length
4.) Elasticity the ability to be stretched
July 31, 2013

Muscle Proteins involved in Contraction:
1.) Contractile Proteins
a. Actin
b. Myosin
2.) Regulatory Proteins
a. Troponin
i. TnC
ii. TnI
iii. TnT
b. Tropomyosin
3.) Structural maintains the alignment and arrangement of the thick and thin filaments.
a. A-actinin connects the thin filaments to the Z discs
b. Myomesin connects the thick filament to the N line
c. Nebulin stabilizes the alignment of the thin filaments
d. Dystrophin anchors the thin filaments to the sarcolemma
e. Desmin takes care of the thick and thin filaments and ensures its proper alignment
f. Titin Connects the thick myosin filaments to the Z discs in the sarcomere.
Muscle contraction or Muscle twitch is an cycle of alternate contraction-relaxation taking place in a
muscle fiber in response to an electrical stimulus that is directly applied to a muscle during an
experimental setting (in vitro contraction); it can also be a response from a neural stimulus originating
from a nerve and terminating in the muscle, (in vivo muscle contraction)
Types of in vitro stimuli:
1.) Mechanical
2.) Chemical
3.) Electrical
4.) Thermal
Changes that are evident in simple muscle contraction:
1.) Structural change -
2.) Chemical change
3.) Mechanical change Phases
a. Lag/Latent phase period before the contraction
b. Contraction phase
c. Relaxation phase
4.) Electrical change

- Sarcomere is found between 2 Z discs.
- Neuro-muscular junction the junction between the end of the axon of the neuron and the
sarcolemma of the muscle
July 31, 2013
- Synaptic Cleft - The end of the axon that is not directly touching the sarcolemma, the space in
between.
- Synaptic Button the club headed end of the axons of the motor neurons delivers action
potentials and neurotransmitters within vesicles
- Acetylcholine the neurotransmitters at the end of the axon of the motor neuron
- Triad (T tubules, 2 Cisternae) serves as a conduit for the action potentials