UNIT FOUR
The Muscular System
11/08/2024 1
• Types of muscles
• Muscle is classified into 3 based on
– morphology
– physiological function:
– presence or absence of cross incisions
– location
11/08/2024 2
1) Skeletal (Striated)
– striated (striped in appearance under microscope),
– voluntary (under conscious control)
Striated muscles are highly organized tissues that convert chemical
energy to physical work.
The primary function of striated muscles is to generate force and
contract in order to support respiration, locomotion, and posture
(skeletal muscle) and to pump blood throughout the body (cardiac
muscle).
2) Cardiac = striated, involuntary
3)11/08/2024
Smooth = non-striated, involuntary 3
11/08/2024 4
• Muscle tissue has four principal characteristics
1. Excitability – the property of receiving and
responding to stimuli.
2. Contractility – the ability to shorten and thicken
(contract).
3. Extensibility – the ability to be stretched (extended).
4. Elasticity - the ability to return to original shape
after contraction or extension
11/08/2024 5
• Four basic functions of muscle are
• Movement - all 3 types of muscle
– Movement of body parts
– Movement of fluids and semisolids through the
body (blood, lymph, food, bile, urine, semen,
feces…)
– Movement of a newborn through the birth canal
• Maintenance of posture - skeletal muscle
– allowing us to remain upright, keeping our head up
right, keep you on two feet
11/08/2024 6
• Heat production (thermogenesis) - skeletal
muscle
– Generation of heat via shivering – an involuntary
contraction of skeletal muscle .
• Stabilization of joints - skeletal muscle
– Muscles keep the tendons that cross the joint taut
maintain the integrity of the joint.
11/08/2024 7
• Skeletal muscles
• Skeletal muscles are attached to a bone at either
end or both ends by a tendon or Apo neurosis (a
flat sheet like tendon).
• The points of attachment of each muscle are its
origin or insertion.
• They are responsible for gross body movements as
well as fine movements such as movement of the
eye ball.
11/08/2024 8
• Ultrastructure of skeletal muscle cells (fibers)
– The cells are very long compared with most other
cells
– multinucleate,
– nuclei are located peripherally
• (Fibers Myofibrils Myofilaments)
- Proteins are
– actin (thin filaments) and
– myosin (thick filaments),
– also tropomyosin and troponin are associated with
thin filaments
11/08/2024 9
• Sarcomere = the smallest contractile unit of
skeletal muscle, bounded by Z-lines
• Z-line = disc-like structures to which actin
filaments attach on both sides
• A-band = Dark region
• I-band = light region
11/08/2024 10
• H-zone = pale central region in A-band; due to
absence of thin filaments
• M-line = thick filaments interconnected by
cross-linking fine radial filaments
• During contraction,
– A-band width remains unchanged,
– I-band width decreases,
– H-zone also decreases,
– Sarcomere shortens
11/08/2024 11
11/08/2024 12
11/08/2024 13
Connective tissues associated with muscles
• Connective tissue is structurally arranged
within muscles to
– protect,
– strengthen, and
– bind muscle fibers into bundles and
– bind the bundles together.
11/08/2024 14
• endomysium – a fine sheath connective tissue
surrounding the individual fibers
• perimysium binds groups of fibers together into
bundles called fasiculi.
• epimysium covers the entire muscle and is
continuous with tendon.
11/08/2024 15
11/08/2024 16
11/08/2024 17
• Tendon is a toughened dense regular CT that
connects a muscle to the perisoteum of a
bone.
• It functions to transfer the force of contraction
from the muscles to the bone to be moved.
• Aponeurosis is a flat, sheet like tendon that
occurs where the attachment is over a broad
line.
11/08/2024 18
Muscle shapes
• Pennate muscles are feather-like in the arrangement of their
fascicles, and may be
– unipennate,
– bipennate, or
– multi-pennate, for
• e.g., extensor digitorum longus (unipennate), bellies of the
gastrocnemius (bipennate), and deltoid (multi-pennate).
• Fusiform muscles are spindle shaped with a round, thick belly
(or bellies) and tapered ends, for e.g., biceps brachii.
11/08/2024 19
• Quadrate muscles have four equal sides (L.
quadratus, square),
– e.g., pronator quadratus
• Circular or sphincteral muscles surround a body
opening or orifice, constricting it when
contracted,
– e.g., orbicularis oris
• Multi-headed or multi-bellied muscles have
more than one head of attachment or more than
one contractile belly
– e. g., biceps brachii (two heads of attachment),
triceps - three heads;
11/08/2024 20
• .
11/08/2024 21
11/08/2024 22
11/08/2024 23
• Naming of skeletal muscles
• Skeletal muscles are named on the basis of
• shape,
• location,
• attachment orientation of fibers,
• relative position, or
• function.
11/08/2024 24
1. Shape: rhomboideus (like a rhomboid), trapezius
(like a trapezoid) or denoting the number of heads
of origin triceps (three heads), biceps (two heads).
2. Location: pectoralis (in the chest, or pectus),
intercostal (between ribs), brachium (upper arm).
3. Attachment: many facial muscles (zygomaticus,
temporialis, nasalis, sternocleidomastoid (sternum,
clavicle, and mastoid process of the skull)
11/08/2024 25
4. Size: Maximus (large) minimus (smaller), longus
(long), brevis (short)
[Link] of fibers: rectus (straight),
transverses (across) oblique….
6. Relative position: lateral, medial, internal, and
external.
7. Function: adductor, flexor, extensor, pronator,
and levator (lifter)
11/08/2024 26
11/08/2024 27
• Origin is usually the proximal end of the
muscle, the most stationary end
• Insertion is usually the distal end of the muscle
attached to the bone undergoing the greatest
movement.
11/08/2024 28
• .
11/08/2024 29
11/08/2024 30
Assignment
• Write a note on nerves and blood vessels
supplying the muscles of the body. (5%)
11/08/2024 31
