Muscle Physiology and

movement controling


m d

Skeletal Muscle
Movements of our body are accomplished by
contraction of the skeletal muscles
Flexion: contraction of a flexor muscle draws in a limb
Extension: contraction of extensor muscle
Skeletal muscle fibers have a striated appearance
Skeletal muscle is composed of two fiber types:
Extrafusal: innervated by alpha-motoneurons from the
spinal cord: exert force
Intrafusal: sensory fibers that detect stretch of the muscle
Afferent fibers: report length of intrafusal: when stretched, the fibers
stimulate the alpha-neuron that innervates the muscle fiber:
maintains muscle tone
Efferent fibers: contraction adjusts sensitivity of afferent fibers.
8.2
8.3
Skeletal Muscle Anatomy
Each muscle fiber
consists of a bundle of
myofibrils
Each myofibril is made
up of overlapping
strands of actin and
myosin
During a muscle twitch,
the myosin filaments
move relative to the
actin filaments, thereby
shortening the muscle
fiber

Neuromuscular Junction
The neuromuscular junction is the synapse formed
between an alpha motor neuron axon and a muscle
fiber
Each axon can form synapses with several muscle fibers
(forming a motor unit)
The precision of muscle control is related to motor unit
size
Small: precise movements of the hand
Large: movements of the leg
8.4

ACh is the neuromuscular junction
neurotransmitter
Release of ACh produces a large endplate potential
Always cause muscle fiber to fire
Voltage changes open CA
++
channels
CA
++
entry triggers myosin-actin interaction (rowing
action)
CA
++
as a cofactor that permits the myofibrils to extract
energy from ATP
Movement of myosin bridges shortens muscle fiber


Smooth and Cardiac Muscle
Smooth muscle is controlled by the autonomic
nervous system
Multiunit smooth muscle is normally inactive
Located in large arteries, around hair and in the eye
Responds to neural or hormonal stimulation
Single-unit smooth muscle exhibits rhythmic contraction
Muscle fibers produce spontaneous pacemaker potentials that
elicit action potentials in adjacent smooth muscle fibers
Single-unit muscle is found in gastrointestinal tract, uterus,
small blood vessels
Cardiac muscle fibers resemble striated muscle in
appearance, but exhibit rhythmic contractions like
that of single-unit smooth muscle


8.6

Creatine Phosphate
Molecule with stored ATP energy
Creatine + ATP Creatine phosphate + ADP

Motor Unit
All the muscle cells controlled by
one nerve cell

Motor Unit Ratios
Back muscles
1:100
Finger muscles
1:10
Eye muscles
1:1

Muscle Fatique
Lack of oxygen causes ATP deficit
Lactic acid builds up from anaerobic
respiration

Muscle Atrophy
Weakening and shrinking of a muscle
May be caused
Immobilization
Loss of neural stimulation

Muscle Hypertrophy
Enlargement of a
muscle
More capillaries
More mitochondria
Caused by
Strenuous exercise
Steroid hormones

Steroid Hormones
Stimulate muscle growth and hypertrophy

Muscle Tonus
Tightness of a muscle
Some fibers always contracted

Tetany
Sustained contraction of a muscle
Result of a rapid succession of nerve
impulses

Tetanus

Refractory Period
Brief period of time in which muscle cells
will not respond to a stimulus

Refractory

Skeletal Muscle Cardiac Muscle
Refractory Periods

Isometric Contraction
Produces no movement
Used in
Standing
Sitting
Posture

Isotonic Contraction
Produces movement
Used in
Walking
Moving any part of the body

Striated muscle contraction is governed by sensory
feedback
Intrafusal fibers are in parallel with extrafusal fibers
Intrafusal receptors fire when the extrafusal muscle fibers
lengthen (load on muscle)
Actually detect the length of muscle
Intrafusal fibers activate agonist muscle fibers and inhibit
antagonist muscle fibers
Extrafusal contraction eliminates intrafusal firing
Muscle Sensory Feedback
8.22

Golgi tendon organ (GTO) receptors are
located within tendons
Sense degree of stretch on muscle
GTO activation inhibits the agonist muscle (via
release of glycine onto alpha-motoneuron
GTO receptors function to prevent over-contraction
of striated muscle



Spinal Cord Anatomy
Spinal cord is
organized into
dorsal and
ventral aspects
Dorsal horn
receives
incoming
sensory
information
Ventral horn
issues efferent
fibers (alpha-
motoneurons)
that innervate
extrafusal fibers
8.24

Spinal Cord Reflexes
Monosynaptic reflexes involve a single synapse
between a sensory fiber from a muscle and an
alpha-motor neuron
Sensory fiber activation quickly activates the alpha motor
neuron which contracts muscle fibers
Patellar reflex
Monosynaptic stretch reflex in posture control
8.25

Polysynaptic reflexes involve multiple synapses
between sensory axons, interneurons, and
motor neurons
Axons from the afferent muscle spindles can synapse
onto
Alpha motoneuron connected to the agonist muscle
An inhibitory interneuron connected to the antagonist muscle
Signals from the muscle spindle activate the agonist and
inhibit the antagonist muscle


Polysynaptic Reflex
8.27

Motor Cortex
Multiple motor systems control body movements
Walking, talking, postural, arm and finger movements
Primary motor cortex is located on the precentral
gyrus
Motor cortex is somatotopically organized (motor
homunculus)
Motor cortex receives input from
Premotor cortex
Supplemental motor area
Frontal association cortex
Primary somatosensory cortex
Planning of movements involves the premotor cortex and
the supplemental motor area which influence the primary
motor cortex
8.28

Motor Homunculus
8.29

Cortical Control of Movement
8.30

Descending Motor Pathways
Axons from primary motor cortex descend to
the spinal cord via two groups
Lateral group: controls independent limb
movements
Corticospinal tract: hand/finger movements
Corticobulbar tract: movements of face, neck, tongue, eye
Rubrospinal tract: fore- and hind-limb muscles
Ventromedial group control gross limb movements
Vestibulospinal tract: control of posture
Tectospinal tract: coordinate eye and head/trunk
movements
Reticulospinal tract: walking, sneezing, muscle tone
Ventral corticospinal tract: muscles of upper leg/trunk
8.31

Corticospinal Tract
Neurons of the corticospinal tract terminate on
motor neurons within the gray matter of the spinal
cord
Corticospinal tract starts in layer 5 of primary motor
cortex
Passes through the cerebral peduncles of the midbrain
Corticospinal neurons decussate (crossover ) in the
medulla
80% become the lat. corticospinal tract
20% become the ventral corticospinal tract
Terminate onto internuncial neurons or alpha-
motoneurons of ventral horn
8.32

Corticospinal tracts control fine
movements
Destruction: loss of muscle strength, reduced
dexterity of hands and fingers
No effect of corticospinal lesions on posture or
use of limbs for reaching



The Apraxias
Apraxia refers to an inability to properly execute a
learned skilled movement following brain damage
Limb apraxia involves movement of the wrong portion of a
limb, incorrect movement of the correct limb part, or an
incorrect sequence of movements
Callosal apraxia: person cannot perform movement of left hand to a
verbal request (anterior callosum interruption prevents information
from reaching right hemisphere)
Sympathetic apraxia: damage to anterior left hemisphere causes
apraxia of the left arm (as well as paralysis of right arm and hand)
Left parietal apraxia: difficulty in initiating movements to verbal
request
Constructional apraxia is caused by right parietal lobe
damage
Person has difficulty with drawing pictures or assembling objects
8.34

The Basal Ganglia
Basal ganglia consist of the caudate nucleus, the
putamen and the globus pallidus
Input to the basal ganglia is from the primary motor cortex
and the substantia nigra
Output of the basal ganglia is to
Primary motor cortex, supplemental motor area, premotor cortex
Brainstem motor nuclei (ventromedial pathways)
Cortical-basal ganglia loop
Frontal, parietal, temporal cortex send axons to caudate/putamen
Caudate/putamen projects to the globus pallidus
Globus pallidus projects back to motor cortex via thalamic nuclei
8.35

Anatomy of the Basal Ganglia
8.36

Parkinsons disease (PD) involves muscle rigidity,
resting tremor, slow movements
Parkinsons results from damage to dopamine neurons
within the nigrostriatal bundle (projects to caudate and
putamen)
Slow movements and postural problems result from
Loss of excitatory input to the direct circuit (caudate-Gpi-VA/VL
thalamus-motor cortex)
Loss of output from the indirect circuit (which is overall an
excitatory circuit for motor behavior)

8.37
Parkinsons Disease

Neurological treatments for PD:
Transplants of dopamine-secreting neurons (fetal
subtantia nigra cells or cells from the carotid body)
Stereotaxic lesions of the globus pallidus (internal
division) alleviates some symptoms of Parkinsons
disease
Electrode implants

Huntingtons Disease
Huntingtons disease (HD) involves uncontrollable,
jerky movements of the limbs
HD is caused by degeneration of the caudate nucleus and
putamen
Cell loss involves GABA-secreting axons that innervate the
external division of the globus pallidus (GPe)
The GPe cells increase their activity, which inhibits the
activity of the subthalamic nucleus, which reduces the
activity level of the GPi, resulting in excessive movements
HD is a hereditary disorder caused by a dominant
gene on chromosome 4
This gene produces a faulty version of the protein
huntingtin
8.39

The Cerebellum
Cerebellum consists of two hemispheres with
associated deep nuclei
Flocculonodular lobe is located at the caudal aspect of the
cerebellum
This lobe has inputs and outputs to the vestibular system
Involved in control of posture
Vermis is located on the midline of the cerebellum
Receives auditory and visual information from the tectum and
cutaneous information from the spinal cord
Vermis projects to the fastigial nucleus which in turn projects to the
vestibular nucleus and to brainstem motor nuclei
Damage to the cerebellum generally results in jerky,
erratic and uncoordinated movements
8.40