L4 Muscle Physiology
L4 Muscle Physiology
L4 Muscle Physiology
Properties of Muscles
• Contractility
○ Ability to shorten with force
○ It DOES NOT produce force by lengthening/pushing!
• Excitability
○ Capacity of muscle to respond to a stimulus
• Extensibility
○ Muscle can be stretched to its normal resting length and beyond to a limited degree
• Elasticity
○ Ability of muscle to recoil to original resting length after stretched
Functional Excursion
• Ability of mm to shorten/contract/lengthen maximally
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• Ability of mm to shorten/contract/lengthen maximally
• 2 jointed mm only
○ e.g., biceps
• 2 types of Excursion
○ Active insufficiency
▪ Mm can no longer be shortened due to it being shortened maximally
○ Passive insufficiency
▪ Mm can no longer be lengthened
Muscle Proteins
• Contractile Proteins
○ Action and myosin
• Regulatory
Sarcolemma
• Plasma membrane
Glycogen is abundant in Sarcoplasm, split via hydrolysis into glucose and ATP
Myoglobin
• Red in color
• Stored in muscle fiber
• Binds oxygen
Mitochondira
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• Actin slides towards the midline
• Actin myofilaments sliding over myosin to shorten sarcomeres
○ Action and Myosin DO NOT change length
○ Shortening sarcomeres responsible for skeletal muscle contraction
• During relaxation go back to original position
• Titin
○ Gives elastic components to muscles
• As skeletal muscles shorten, the elastic components are stretched and become taut. The tension then pulls the
body part that it is attached to, resulting in movement
Myasthenic Conditions
• Myasthenic Gravis
○ Post
• Lambert q
• Botulinum Toxicity
○ Synaptic Cleft
○ Botox
Length-tension relationship
Motor Units
• One nerve supplies many/all muscle fibers
• There are many motor units in a muscle
• The number of fibers innervated by a single motor neuron varies (from a few to thousand)
Muscle is Plastic
• Muscle adapts to meet the habitual level of demand placed on it.
• Level of physical activity determined by the frequency of recruitment and the load
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▪ Sends AP multiple times
○ Spatial Summation
▪ Surrounding nerve fibers release AP at the same time
• Tetanic
○ Continuous contraction
• Incomplete Tetanic
○ Incomplete contraction
• Treppe'
○ Gets stronger over time
○ Graded response
○ Occurs in muscle rested for prolonged period
○ Each subsequent contraction is stronger than the previous
• Presence of Myoglobin
Creatine
• Molecule capable of storing ATP energy
• Creatine + ATP = Creatine Phosphate + ADP
• ADP + Creatine Phosphate = ATP + Creatine
Muscle Fatigue
• Muscle Fatigue
○ When muscles can no longer perform a required activity, they are fatigued
• Results of Muscle Fatigue
○ Depletion of metabolic reserves
○ Damage to sarcolemma and sarcoplasmic reticulum
○ Low pH (lactic Acid)
○ Muscle exhaustion and pain
Fatigue
• Decreased capacity to work and reduced efficiency of performance
• Types
○ Psychological
○ Muscular
○ Synaptic
Muscle Hypertrophy
6 - 8 weeks
Bigger muscles
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Bigger muscles
Muscle Atrophy
• Lack of muscle activity
• Reduce muscle size, tone, and power
Steroid Hormones
• Stimulates muscle growth and hypertrophy
• Growth hormone testosterone
• Thyroid hormones
• Epinephrine
Refractory Period
• Brief period of time in which muscle cells will not respond to a stimulus
• 2 types
○ Relative
▪ Mm can be stimulated again as long as SUPRAMAXIMAL stimulus
▪ -2/3 of Repolarization
□ Must be Treppe
○ Absolute
▪ Cannot contract mm regardless of strength of stimulus
▪ -1/3 of Repolarization
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