BIOL 1507 – ANATOMY AND

PHYSIOLOGY
UNIT 6 = THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM

Dr. Karyn Lumsden BSc, DC

[email protected]
Unit 6 Objectives
• Describe the similarities and differences between muscle
tissue types
• Understand location of various muscle types in the body
• Define: endomysium, perimysium, tendon, aponeurosis
• Describe the microscopic structure of skeletal muscle
• Define: origin, insertion, prime mover, antagonist,
synergist and fixator
• Understand body movements and actions of muscle
Recall the tissues of the body:
Connective Tissue
• Muscle is specialized connective tissue
• Cells contain many contractile fibers
• Fibers can “contract” and create movement
• There are three types of muscle tissue in the body
Muscle Tissue
• Skeletal
• Cells are long and tubular
• Cells have dark and light fibers
• “Striped” appearance
• Called striations
• Each cell has many nuclei
• “Multinucleate”
• Stimulated by a nerve fiber
• Brain tells cell to move
• Contracts producing movement
• Movement created is voluntary
• Location: all over the body
Muscle Tissue
• Smooth
• Cells are small and spindle
shaped
• Cells have no fibers
• No striations “smooth”
• Each cell has 1 centrally
located nucleus
• Stimulated by a autonomic
fiber
• Contracts producing
movement
• Movement created is
involuntary
• Location: organs of the body
Muscle Tissue
• Cardiac
• Cells are branch shaped
• Cells have dark and light fibers
• “Striped” appearance
• Called striations
• Each cell has many nuclei
• “Multinucleate”
• Stimulated by an autonomic fiber
• Contracts producing movement
• Movement created is
involuntary
• Location: heart
The characteristics of muscle
• Excitability = the ability to be stimulated by a nerve

• Extensibility = the ability to stretch beyond normal

• Elasticity = the ability to return to normal resting length

• Contractility = the ability to contract and shorten

Major functions of muscles.
Movement = pull on bone to create movement of
skeletal

Posture maintenance = constant contraction to hold up

trunk / spine

Joint stability = maintain level of tone / tension to

ensure joints are protected

Heat generation = think of the shiver / goosebumps

reference!
Why a muscle is an organ?
• Recall…what is an organ?
• Muscles are composed of:
• Two types of connective tissue
• Muscular (belly of muscle)
• Dense regular (tendon of muscle)

• All cells inside muscle tissue function to produce the

same movement

• Muscles achieve movement by pulling on tendons

Muscle Coverings and connections

• Aponeurosis =
Broad sheet of
tendon to large
bone area
• Fascia = muscle
attachment to
other muscle
Muscle Coverings and connections .
• Tendon = Muscle attachment to boney point
Organization of Skeletal Muscle
• Muscle is covered and divided by several different
layers of connective tissue:
• Epimysium = entire muscle belly
Organization of Skeletal Muscle
• Muscle is covered and divided by several different
layers of connective tissue:
• Perimysium = divides muscle into segments called
fascicles
 Organization of Skeletal Muscle
• Muscle is covered and divided by several different
layers of connective tissue:
• Endomysium = covers individual muscle cell
Organization of Muscle
Organization of Skeletal Muscle
 Organization of Muscle
Bag of twizzlers = muscle belly

1 single pull and peel = muscle

cell

Bunch of
pull and
peels =
muscle
fascicles

Individual pull
and peel
string =
muscle fiber
Microscopic organization.
• Myofibrils
• Bundled within the muscle cell
• Two filaments
• Actin – thin
• Myosin – thick
• Make up the contractile units of the muscle cell (SARCOMERES)
Muscle Cells
Muscle cells have
the following unique
features:
1. Multinucleated
located on edges
of the cell
(“peripheral”)
2. Many mitochondria
3. Specialized ER
called
“Sarcoplasmic
reticulum
4. Fibers running
within cytoplasm
called “myofibrils”
Muscle Cells
• Each muscle cell is
long and tubular
• Within each tube we
can find two types of
fibers running
throughout the entire
cell
• Thick fiber = myosin
• Thin fiber = actin
Organization of Skeletal Muscle
• Actin and myosin are both
proteins that are found in all
types of muscle tissue.
• Myosin forms thick filaments
(15 nm in diameter)
• Actin forms thinner filaments
(7nm in diameter).
• Actin and myosin filaments
work together to generate
force. This force produces the
muscle cell contractions that
facilitate the movement of the
muscles and, therefore, of
body structures.
Microscopic organization
The Sarcomere
• Z line = boundary of 1 sarcomere, attachment for actin
• M line = middle of 1 sarcomere, attachment for myosin
• I band = Contains only actin filaments
• A band = contains only myosin filaments
Notice that when the
sarcomere shortens the I
band disappears
because all of the actin
is bound to myosin
The muscle and nervous system.
• Each skeletal muscle fiber is connected to a nerve cell
called a motor unit
• Allows for two way communication between brain and
muscle
Muscle Innervation
• Your brain receives
sensory input from
muscle via afferent
pathway
• Your brain decides what
to do and send a motor
signal out via efferent
pathway to the muscle
 Muscular Contraction Overall:

• Once the signal

reaches the muscle
the nerve will
terminate (end) at the
neuromuscular
junction
• Nerve will release a
signal a
“neurotransmitter”
which tells the muscle
cells to contract
 Muscular Contraction Overall:
• The Neurotransmitter that is
released is called
Acetylcholine or ACh
• The binding of ACh on the
surface of the muscle cell
causes the receptor gate to
open and sodium will move
down its concentration
gradient into the cell
• This leads to a reaction
inside the cell which leads
to the release of calcium
• Calcium promotes
interaction between myosin
and actin – leading to
muscular contraction
 Muscular Contraction Overall:

• The Neuro
Nerve Damage to Muscle Innervation
• If the pathway between
the brain and the muscle
becomes damaged, the
muscle will not receive
input from the nerve and
the muscle will begin to
shrink. This process is
called atrophy
• MS
• Diabetic Neuropathy
• Stroke
Type of Muscular Actions
• Isometric – the muscle contracts,
produces force, but no gross
movement of the muscle occurs

• Concentric – the muscle shortens

while contracting, producing
acceleration of body segments.

• Eccentric – the muscle lengthens

while contracting. Eccentric
contractions decelerate body
segments and provide shock
absorption, such as when landing from
a jump.
How Muscles Exert Action
• Origin = proximal and stable attachment

• Insertion = distal and mobile attachment

• 1 or 2 joint action = how many joints the muscle cross will

determine how much movement it can make

**The goal of any muscle is to pull the insertion as close as

possible to the origin point
Muscle Classification.

• Muscles are classified into four functional groups

• Prime movers
• Antagonists
• Synergists
• Fixators

• The action of the antagonist and synergist muscles are

very important to the smooth, co-ordinated and precise
movements
Muscle Classification.
• Prime movers
• Provides the major force during movement

• Antagonists
• Muscles that oppose or reverse a movement
• When the prime movers are active – the antagonists are relaxed

• Prime movers and antagonists are located on opposites

sides of the joint from each other
Muscle Classification
• Synergists
• Most movements involve the action of one or more synergists
• Help the prime mover by promoting the same movement and
reducing undesirable movements during the contraction of the
prime mover

• Fixator
• immobilizes a bone or the origin of the agonist
How Do joints Move?
Movement of a joint is generated
by muscular force that pulls on the
bone in a certain plane.
Angular Motions
• All synovial joints have a unique combination of ‘angular
movements’ that are determined by their classification
• These motions always come in pairs :

• Flexion
• Extension • Inversion • Rotation
• Eversion • Circumduction

• Abduction • Pronation • Plantarflexion

• Adduction • Supination • Dorsiflexion
FLEXION of a joint: EXTENSION of a joint:
- A decrease in angle between 2 body parts - An increase in angle between 2 body parts
 In the case of the
hands – the midline
is digit #3
(toes the midline is
digit #2)

ABDUCTION = Movement of body part away ADDUCTION = Movement of body part towards the
from the midline midline
Muscle Actions
• Action of muscle is directly related to position and fibre
direction
• Anterior side
• Posterior side
• Lateral side
• Medial side
Muscle Action
• Posterior Side of Joint:

• Muscle that attach to a

posterior side of a joint
will always create
EXTENSION of that
joint
Muscle Action
• Anterior Side of
Joint:
• Muscle that attach
to a anterior side
of a joint will
always create
FLEXION of that
joint
Muscle Actions
• Lateral side of joint:
• Muscle that attach to a
lateral side of a joint will
always create
ABDUCTION of that
joint
Muscle Action
• Medial Side of Joint:
• Muscle that attach to
a medial side of a joint
will always create
ABDUCTION of that
joint
The Role of Exercise

Atrophy Hypertrophy
Without development Increased development
Decrease in the size of an organ or Increase in the size of an organ or
tissue tissue (in muscles you increased
THICKNESS not length)
Exercise
• Aerobic
• Endurance
• Stronger, flexible
muscles
• Greater resistance to
fatigue
• Benefits both skeletal
and cardiac muscles
• Does not lead to
hypertrophy
Exercise
• Resistance
• Isometric
• Effective hypertrophy
• Pattern of exercise is
important
• Imbalance is
possible