HISTOLOGY OF MUSCULAR SYSTEM LECTURE for

PCI/MEDICAL SCIENCE STUDENTS.

DEPARTMENT: ANATOMY TEAM UNIT

By: Merga S. (MSC in clinical anatomy)

June, 2023

6/8/2023 1
 MUSCLE TISSUES AND CONTRACTILE CELLS
Outlines
– Introduction

– General features of muscle tissues

– Types of muscle tissues and contractile cells

– Distinguishing characteristics

– Contractile elements of muscle tissues

– Injuries and regeneration capabilities

 Muscular tissue introduction
• Muscle tissue makes up nearly half of an individual’s total
body weight.

• Each muscle is an individual organ made up of muscle

tissue, nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissue.

• Human has about 700 muscles (skeletal muscle)

 Myocytes : cells of muscle tissue

 Myology, the study of muscles

Muscle Tissue:
• Associated with the bones of the skeleton,
the heart and in the walls of the hollow
organs of the body.
Functions:
• Movement
• Maintains posture
• Produces heat
• Facial expressions
• Pumps blood
• Peristalsis
Highly Contractile Cells:
– enable movement of large tissues or organs and include:
1. Muscle cells/fibers:
– aggregated to form muscle organs which move large structures
such as the skeleton or the viscera.
2. Myoepithelial cells:
– function as single contractile units surrounding the secretory
acini and small ducts of some exocrine glands.
3. Pericytes:
– are perivascular contractile cells
– invest very small blood vessels (capillaries and postcapillary
venules) and regulate the pressure by altering the diameter of
these vessels.
4. Myofibroblasts: contractile cells found in healing wounds; play
an important role in contraction and shrinkage of the resultant
scar tissue.
 Muscle Tissue:
– is composed of muscle cells, differentiated for optimal
contractility & moderate amount of ECM and CT which
connect muscle cells together and carry nerve fibers &
blood capillaries to them.

– Individual muscle cells are long and narrow (i.e. longer than
wide) so they are called muscle fibers or myofibers.

– Muscle cells are derived from mesenchyme.

 Distinguishing Features of Muscle Tissues
1. Elongated, cylindrical or spindle-like morphology
2. Moderate cellularity
3. High vascularity
4. Heavy innervation
5. Mesenchymal origin
6. External lamina
7. Regeneration
8. Hypertrophy
9. Hyperplasia
10. Excitability/Irritability
11. High contractility
12. Extensibility
13. Elasticity
 Types of Muscle Tissues:
– Three types of muscle tissues can be
distinguished on the basis of morphologic &
functional characteristics and the structure of
each type is adapted to its physiologic role.
1. Skeletal and visceral striated muscles
2. Cardiac muscle: also has cross-striations
3. Smooth muscle: consists of collections
of fusiform cells that do not show
striations.
1. SKELETAL AND VISCERAL STRIATED MUSCLES
– composed of bundles of very long non-branching,
cylindrical, multinucleated fibers that show cross-striations
(a regular pattern of alternating light & dark bands along
the entire length of the cell)
– contraction is quick, forceful (vigorous) & under voluntary
control.
2. CARDIAC MUSCLE:
• also has cross-striations & composed of elongated,
branched individual cells that lie parallel to each
other.

– connected end-to-end by intercalated disks,

structures found only in cardiac muscle.
Contraction of cardiac muscle is involuntary,
vigorous, & rhythmic.
Cardiac muscle
3. SMOOTH MUSCLE:
 consists of collections of fusiform cells that do not show
striations.
 Their contraction process is slow & subject to involuntary
control.
Distribution of Smooth muscle tissues
• Found within almost every organ-system, forming
sheets, bundles, or sheaths around other tissues.
In Cardiovascular system:
– Smooth muscle tissue in the wall of the blood
vessels regulates blood flow through vital organs.
– Smooth muscle also helps regulate blood
pressure in arterioles (precapilliary sphincter).
 In Digestive systems:
– Smooth muscle lining the digestive tract alternates contraction
and relaxation (peristalsis) to propel matter through the
alimentary canal.
– Found in the mucosa (muscularis mucosae) and muscularis
externa of the tubular GIT.
– arranged in inner circular & outer longitudinal layers but in
the stomach consists of three layers (inner oblique, middle
circular, outer longitudinal).
– Rings of smooth muscle, called sphincters, regulate movement
along internal passageways.
 Plicae ciculares (folds)
of the jejunum.
longitudinal section
mucosa and submucosa
(SM), plicae (P),
villi (V). two layers of the
muscularis (M). serosa (S),
20
 Smooth/Visceral Muscle…
Integumentary system:
– Regulates blood flow to the superficial dermis
– Allows for piloerection (Arrector pilli muscles)
Respiratory system
– Alters the diameter of the airways and changes the
resistance to airflow (especially in bronchioles)
Urinary system
– Sphincters regulate the passage of urine
– Smooth muscle contractions move urine into and out of
the ureter and urinary bladder (detrusor muscle in the
urinary bladder).
 Muscle Tissues
Skeletal muscle Cardiac muscle Smooth muscle
Location: attached to Found in the Found in the blood
the skeleton, in myocardium of the vessels & viscera
tongue, pharynx,
heart
esophagus
Striated Striated Non-striated
Voluntary Involuntary Involuntary
This image cannot currently be display ed.
 Muscle structure
A. Connective Tissue Component
• A skeletal muscle is mainly composed of striated
muscle cells and connective tissue.
Each skeletal muscle has two parts:
the connective tissue sheath that extend to form
specialized structures that aid in attaching the muscle
to bone and the fleshy part the belly.

By: Merga S. 23 6/8/2023

 Muscle tissue….
• Three layers connective tissue protect & strengthened
skeletal muscle. These are:
• Epimysium: the outermost connective tissue sheath that
encircle the entire muscle.
• Perimysium: surrounds group of muscle fibers & separates
them into fascicles.
• Endomysium: a connective tissue that surrounds individual
muscle fiber.

By: Merga S. 24 6/8/2023

A skeletal muscle consists of striated muscle fibers held together by
connective tissues.
1. Endomysium
– Delicate layer of loose areolar CT rich in reticular fibers,
and small diameter capillaries and finest neuronal
branches running parallel to the muscle fibers.
– Immediately surrounds individual muscle fibers,
– Derived from perimysium.
– House a rich network of capillaries surrounding each
muscle fiber.
2. Perimysium
– Loose CT surrounding a group of muscle fibers that form
a bundle (fascicle)
– Derived from epimysium
– Thicker than the endomysium and therefore houses
larger blood vessels (arterioles and small veins) and
nerves.
3. Epimysium
– Sheath of a fibro-elastic CT
– Surrounds the collection of fascicles of the entire muscle
– Major vascular and nerve supply of the muscle
penetrates here
In this photomicrograph, you should notice: the epimysium on the left,
the multiple fascicles, the translucent perimysium partitioning them, and
the multiple muscle fibers making up each fascicle.
Muscle Fibers SKELETAL MUSCLE (Masson Trichrome) Cross section

Endomysium

Nuclei at periphery
• All Three connective tissue layers may extend beyond the
muscle fiber to form a tendon.

• Tendon is a cord of dense regular connective tissue

composed of collagen fibers that attach muscles to bones.

• Connective tissue also extends into the muscle and divides it

into numerous muscle bundles (fascicles).

By: Merga S. 30 6/8/2023

 Muscle tissue…

By: Merga S. 31 6/8/2023

 Repair, Healing and Renewal of Skeletal muscles
Some nuclei that appear to belong to the skeletal muscle
fiber are nuclei of small satellite cells.
Satellite cells
– remain as stem cells, interposed between the plasma
membrane of the muscle fiber and its basal/external lamina.
– Proliferate after minor injury to give rise to new myoblasts.
– So long as the external lamina remains intact, the myoblasts
fuse within the external lamina to form myotube which
matures into a new muscle fiber.
– Disruption of the basal lamina results in fibroblast repair of
the injured site with scar tissue formation.
 Injury and Repair in Cardiac muscle tissue
– Mature cardiac muscle cells are able to divide.

– In the past, it was thought that once cardiac muscle cells are
destroyed, they cannot be replaced by new muscle cells.

– Recently emerging evidences are showing mitotic potential of

cardiac muscle cells at least in the hearts removed from
individuals who had received transplants.

– Although the number of dividing nuclei in these hearts is

low (0.1%), it suggests that damaged cells can potentially be
replaced.
Thank 4 your
attention