The Muscular System PDF

The Muscular System
Skeletal muscle, with its associated connective tissue, constitutes approximately 40% of body weight.
Skeletal muscle is so named because most of the muscles are attached to the skeletal system. It is also called
striated muscle because transverse bands, or striations, can be seen in the muscle under the microscope.
Contraction of skeletal muscle tissue occurs as actin and myosin myofilaments slide past one another,
causing the sarcomeres to shorten. Many sarcomeres are joined end-to-end to form myofibrils. Shortening of the
sarcomeres causes myofibrils to shorten, thereby causing the entire muscle to shorten.
Smooth muscle cells are small and spindle-shaped, usually with one nucleus per cell. They contain less
actin and myosin than do skeletal muscle cells, and the myofilaments are not organized into sarcomeres. As a result,
smooth muscle cells are not striated. Smooth muscle cells contract more slowly than skeletal muscle cells when
stimulated by neurotransmitters from the nervous system and do not develop an oxygen deficit.
Cardiac muscle shares some characteristics with both smooth and skeletal muscle. Cardiac muscle cells
are long, striated, and branching, with usually only one nucleus per cell. The actin and myosin myofilaments are
organized into sarcomeres, but the distribution of myofilaments is not as uniform as in skeletal muscle. As a result,
cardiac muscle cells are striated, but not as distinctly striated as skeletal muscle. When stimulated by
neurotransmitters, the rate of cardiac muscle contraction is between those of smooth and skeletal muscle.
 
Reference for Procedure 1
Studies observed how gender impacts the maximum grip force, finding that males tend to exert a greater
force than females. An experiment conducted by Nicolay and Walker also observed a notable difference in grip force
exerted by the dominant and non-dominant hand of the subject, finding that the dominant hand was able to exert a
significantly higher force than the non-dominant. In observing the effect of exercise on force and muscle exhaustion,
the study by Nicolay and Walker found that the dominant hand is significantly stronger, but that it fatigues more
easily, especially for women. These previous studies all observed how specific body features and measurements
could influence the maximum grip force of a subject.
Muscle fatigue (decline in work) presents an important relationship with the rest time between exercises
performance. As noted by some authors, the rest interval duration between the series in a protocol, when reduced,
may increase fatigue. Nevertheless, these protocols have not taken into account the resting period of the agonist
muscles when the antagonist muscles were also involved during the motion. In a study, it was observed that when
the rest interval between each contraction of the flexor muscle group (time of antagonist muscles contraction) was
higher, the reduction of work was lower when compared with other rest intervals. According to Fitts, during the time
after muscle fatigue, there is a fast recovery of the fibers, which becomes slower and may take an hour or longer to
return to the state of pre-fatigue.
Temperature can have significant effects on whole-organism performance, especially in ectotherms. Muscle-
powered movements are particularly susceptible to temperature changes because of the effects of temperature on
muscle contractile properties. At lower temperatures we see lower muscle shortening velocity, lower rates of force
generation, lower power output, and to a lesser extent, lower force production.
In humans, muscle fatigue can be defined as exercise-induced decrease in the ability to produce force. It is
the inability of a muscle to maintain force of contraction after prolonged activity. Fatigue results mainly from changes
within muscle fibers. Often defined as an overwhelming sense of tiredness, lack of energy and feeling of exhaustion,
fatigue relates to a difficulty in performing voluntary tasks.
Fatigue is a temporary state of reduced work capacity. Without fatigue, muscle fibers would be worked to
the point of structural damage to them and their supportive tissues. Although fatigue reduces power output, the
overall benefit is that it prevents complete exhaustion of ATP reserves, which could lead to severe damage of the
muscle fibers.
Although the precise mechanisms that cause muscle fatigue are still not clear, several factors are thought to
contribute. One is inadequate release of calcium ions from the sarcoplasmic reticulum, resulting in a decline of Ca2+
concentration in the sarcoplasm. Depletion of creatine phosphate also is associated with fatigue, but surprisingly, the
ATP levels in fatigued muscle often are not much lower than those in resting muscle. Other factors that contribute to
muscle fatigue include insufficient oxygen, depletion of glycogen and other nutrients, buildup of lactic acid and ADP,
and failure of action potentials in the motor neuron to release enough acetylcholine.
Multiple mechanisms underlying muscular fatigue.

1. Acidosis and ATP depletion due to either an increased ATP consumption or a decreased ATP production
2. Oxidative stress, which is characterized by the buildup of excess reactive oxygen species (ROS; free radicals)
3. Local inflammatory reactions
Acidosis and ATP Depletion
Anaerobic respiration results in breakdown of glucose to lactate and protons, accounting for lowered pH.
Lowered pH has several cellular effects, including decreased effectiveness of Ca2+ on actin and overall less Ca2+
release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Lactic acidosis can also result when liver dysfunction results in reduced
clearance of lactate (such as using it to produce glucose, for example). Usually, increased lactate levels are due to
increased anaerobic respiration production of ATP when aerobic respiration production of ATP is reduced. Increases
in lactate are also seen in patients with mitochondrial disorders and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
However, to what extent ATP reductions are responsible for muscular fatigue is still not clear. Recent studies
have demonstrated that cytoplasmic ATP levels stay relatively constant even in the face of decreasing muscle force
production. But decreased ATP does cause fatigue. More specifically, it is the localized decreases in ATP levels or
those associated with specific transport systems that are correlated with muscle fatigue.
Oxidative Stress
During intense exercise, increases in ROS production cause the breakdown of proteins, lipids, or nucleic
acids. In addition, ROS trigger an immune system chemical called interleukin (IL)-6. IL-6 is a mediator of
inflammation, which is the most likely cause of muscle soreness.
Inflammation
In addition to the stimulation of IL-6 by ROS, which causes inflammation, the immune system is directly
activated by exercise. T lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, migrate into heavily worked muscles. The presence
of immune system intermediates increases the perception of pain, which most likely serves as a signal to protect
those tissues from further damage.
An example of muscle fatigue occurs when a runner collapses on the track and must be helped off. The
runner’s muscle can no longer function regardless of how determined the runner is. Under conditions of extreme
muscular fatigue, muscle may become incapable of either contracting or relaxing. This condition, called physiological
contracture, occurs when there is too little ATP to bind to myosin myofilaments. Because binding of ATP to the
myosin heads is necessary for cross-bridge release between the actin and myosin, the cross-bridges between the
actin and myosin myofilaments cannot be broken, and the muscle cannot relax.
The most common type of fatigue, psychological fatigue, involves the central nervous system rather than the
muscles themselves. The muscles are still capable of contracting, but the individual “perceives” that continued
muscle contraction is impossible. A determined burst of activity in a tired runner in response to pressure from a
competitor is an example of how psychological fatigue can be overcome.

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The Muscular System

Multiple mechanisms underlying muscular fatigue.

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