CHAPTER 11 (MUSCLES)

Muscle is a tissue
Muscles are organs (specialized to perform a single
function to shorten and recover)
Classification of muscles based on histology:
1. Striated Muscle Tissue
Long, cylindrical, multinucleate
Each with transverse bands and longitudinal

and neural tisues for mechanical

support, tensile strength, metabolic
needs and stimuli for contraction
Impulses at motor nerve endings > release
of neurotransmitter amines into motor end
plate (nerve endings depress the
sarcolemma ) > motor end plate initiates
stimuli along th sarcolemma > interactions
between actin and myosin > shortening of

striae (caused by Myofibrils)

Myofibril > repeating sarcomeres along its

the sarcomeres
Shortening of sarcomeres: myofibrils bulge:

length > each consists of proteinaceous

muscle shortens and thickens

Motor unit functional group of muscle

myofilaments (actin and myosin)

Cross striations of muscle are the result

perfect alignment of sarcomeres

Syncytium (single functional unit)
Formed when myoblasts aligned end

to end and unite

Sarcolemma ( delicate plasma membrane)
Where nuclei and protoplasm
contributed to the syncytium are
contained
Motor end plate portion of
sarcolemma with receptors for

consisting of: Connective, vascular

neurotransmitters
Assemble to form SKELETAL MUSCLES

fibers
Contracts simultaneously because a
single nerve cell supplies motor end
plate on many muscle fibers
Larger number of motor units
stimulated, the greater the effect of
contraction
2. Cardiac Muscle Tissue
Heart muscle
Uninucleate
Cells have boundaries called intercalated
disks
link cytoplasms of adjacent cells

 facilitates ion transport > rapid

passage of action potentials
Cells can contract without nervous
stimulation
Innervated by fibers of autonomic nervous
system
Autonomic nerves modify the

Nerve
impulses,

Innervated by fibers of

release of

autonomic nervous system

neurotransmitt

(involuntary)

ers (voluntary)

rhythmicity of its myogenic activity

Myogenic regularly self depolarizes
Conducts impulses through its own system
of fibers

SOMATIC

3. Smooth Muscle tissue

Fusiform
Uninucleate
Have myofibrils but NOT STRIATED
Occurs often as sheets (part of an organ)
Innervated by fibers of autonomic nervous
system
SKELETAL
multinucleate

Major Categories of Muscles

CARDIAC
SMOOTH
uninucleate
Same with
skeletal but

Long cylindrical

has

fusiform

INTERCALATED
DISKS
Non striated
striated

(occurs in
sheets)

VISCERAL

BRANCHIOME

Striated, skeletal,

Smooth, non-

RIC
Striated,

voluntary

skeletal,

skeletal,

Primitively

involuntary
Unsegmented

segmented
Myotomal or soitic

Derived from

Myotomal in

muscles (from the

lateral

origin - from

myotomes of

mesoderm

the most

mesodermal

splanchnic

anterior

somites)

mesoderm

somites and

Mostly in body

Mostly in

wall and

splanchnopleure;

appendages

(smooth muscles

somitomeres

of organs,
intrinsic

musculature of
eyeballs, erector

TWITCH AND TONIC MUSCLE FIBERS

(contractile fiber types)

muscles, cardiac
Primarily for

muscle)
Regulate internal

Belong to the

orientation in

environment

pharyngeal

external

arches and

environment

their

Innervated by

Innervated by

derivatives
Innervated by

spinal nerves and

postganglionic

cranial nerves

cranial nerves III,

fibers of

IV, VI, XII

autonomic
nervous system

TWITCH
Fast to slow contraction

Slow postural

Postural muscles
(AMPHIBIANS AND

muscles (MAMMALS)
Fast most
locomotor muscles

Extraocular and ear

bundles of muscle fibers)

Endomysium ( surround each muscle fiber)
Tendons are cotinuations of the muscle

beyond the site where fascicles end.

The collagenous bundles of epimysium and
perimysium continue into and become part
of the tendon.

REPTILES)

Innervation single axon

Action potential all-or-

muscles (MAMMALS)
Multiple axons
Temporal summation with

none
Variably fatiques

graded concentration
Can maintain tension

SKELETAL MUSCLES AS ORGANS

Epimysium (surrounds the muscle fascia)
Periysum (surrounds each fascicle major

TONIC
Slow contraction

efficiently

Fiber type variations within twitch fibers

Slow twitch
Fast oxidative
(type I)
(type IIA)
Posture or slow
fast
repetitive
movements
Fatigue slowly
Large number of mimtohondria
High myoglobin
(red muscle)

ATP formed by
oxidative

Fast glycolytic
(type IIB)
Powerful and fast

Fatigue quickly
Few
mitochondria
ATP formed by
glycolysis with

phosphorylation
Dark meat of
fish and fowl

Bird flight
muscles

possible oxygen
debt
White breast of
domestic fowl

Androgens cause amino acids to be linked

Fusiform muscle consisting of a belly and two

tendons
Digastrics muscles with 2 bellies
Some muscles have 3 or 4 heads or tendon of

together into polypeptides add proteins thus; they

produce larger muscles in males.

ORIGINS, INSERTIONS, AND MUSCLE SHAPES

bordering tendon to insert multiple sites suh

Anatomic origin site of attachment that

remains fixed under most functional conditions;
the bone on which it originates is not displaced

when the muscle contracts

Insertion site of attachment that is usually

displaced by the contraction of the muscle.

A muscle may cause displacement of the bone of
origin instead of the bone of insertion if the former
is immobilized by other muscles.
o Example:
Geniohyoid muscle which extends
between the hyoid bone and the lower
jaw at the chin, either lowers the
lower jaw or draws the hyoid forward
depending on which bone is
immobilized at that time.

origin
Many muscles are straplike
o Geniohyoideus of tetrapods
o Sternomastoid muscles of mammals
Less frequently seen are pinnate muscles
o Resembles contour feather
o Slips feather out from a central or

as on successive vertebrae.
o Domed diaphragm
Aponeuroses tough, thin, sheetlike expanses of
mammalian tendons and ligaments
o Gala aponeurotica (mammalian scalp)
insertion for the muscles of forehead,

temporal, and occipital regions.

Raphes - long seamlike tendons
o Linea alba
o Muscles inserting on raphes often compress
a cavity and the organs within it
Tendonous inscriptions non metameric,
myoseptalike, that traverse many straplike
muscles or broad muscular sheets, adding tensile
strength to the muscle
o Prominent in : rectus abdominis of humans
and oblique and transverse muscle of the
abdomens of anurans and amniotes.

For muscle groups to fucntion smoothly, they

must be under regulatory control of cerebellum,
which dispatches motor impulses to appropriate

ACTIONS OF SKELETAL MUSCLES

Extensors straighten two segments
Flexors - draw one segment toward another
Adductors draw a part toward the midline
Abductors cause displacement away from the

muscles on receiving sensory feedback

NAMES AND HOMOLOGIES OF SKELETAL MUSCLES

midline
Protractors cause a part to be thrust forward or

supraspinatus, superficialis)
o Number of subdvisions ( quadriceps,

outward
Retractors pull it back
Levators raise
Depressors lowers
Rotators rotation on its axis
o Supinators turn the palm upward
o Pronator make it prone (turn it
downward)
Tensors make a part more taut
Constrictors compress internal parts
o Most are non skeletal:
o Sphincters makes opening smaller
o Dilators makes opening larger
Muscles act in functional groups and with other
functional groups that have an opposing action

Skeletal muscles have ben named for :

o Direction of their fibers (oblique, rectus)
o Location or position (thoracis,

digastric)
o Shape (deltoid, teres, serratus)
o Origin or insertion (xiphihumeralis,

stapedius)
o Action ( levator scapulae, risorius)
o Size (major, longisimus)
Similarity of location, origin and insertion is not
reliable for establishing homologies because:
o Muscles sometimes alter their site of

attachment during evolution

Homologies between functional groups of
muscles may be deduced with a much greater
degree of reliability.