Connective tissue
Muscular Tissue
Connective tissue
4. Muscular Tissue –
➢ Muscles or muscular tissue is mesodermal in nature.
➢ About 40-50 per cent of the body weight of a human adult is contributed by
muscles
➢ It is a tissue involved in movement of the body.
➢ 3 types muscles
● Skeletal muscles
● visceral muscles
● Cardiac muscles
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1. Skeletal muscles
→ They are also called voluntary muscles because these are under the control of
one’s will.
→ Muscle fibres or cells are multinucleated and unbranched.
→ Each fibre is enclosed by thin membrane which is called as sarcolemma.
→ Also called striated muscle
→ Cytoplasm is called sarcoplasm.
→ These muscles get tired and need rest.
2. Cardiac muscle
→ They are involuntary muscles.
→ Only found in the walls of the heart.
→ Their structure is in between the striated and non-striated muscles.
→ They are uninucleated and branched. Branches are united by an intercalated
disc.
→ In these muscles rhythmic contraction and relaxation occurs throughout life.
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3. Non-striated muscles
→ They are involuntary muscles also called smooth muscles.
→ These muscle fibres are uninucleated and spindle shaped.
→ They are not Enclosed By Membrane but many fibres are joined together in
bundles.
→ Such muscles are found in the walls of stomach, intestine, urinary bladder,
bronchi, iris of eye etc.
→ Peristaltic movements in the alimentary canal are brought about by smooth
muscles.
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Structure of the skeletal muscle
→ The fibrous tissue that surrounds the skeletal muscle is known as epimysium.
→ A number of muscle bundles in a skeletal muscles form fascicle.
→ Each muscle bundle is made up of a number of muscle fibers.
→ The plasma membrane that lines the muscle fiber is known as Sarcolemma.
→ Sarcolemma encloses the sarcoplasm.
→ Multiple nuclei found in the muscle fiber is known as syncytium.
→ The endoplasmic reticulum of the muscle fiber is known as sarcoplasmic
reticulum.
→ Sarcoplasmic reticulum stores calcium ions that participate in muscle
contraction.
Structure of muscle fibre
→ Muscle fiber contain parallelly arranged filaments which
are known as myofibrils or myofilaments.
→ The characteristic cross-striations found in skeletal
muscles is due to the presence of two proteins- actin and
myosin.
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→ The light bands also known as isotropic, contain actin protein
→ dark bands are known as anisotropic which contain myosin.
→ Actin filaments are thinner as compared to the
myosin filaments
→ In the center of each actin band there is a stretch of
the elastic fiber known as Z-line.
→ The portion of the myofibril between the two
successive Z lines is known as sarcomere.
→ Sarcomere is known as the functional unit for
muscle contraction.
→ ‘A’ band are also held together in the middle of this
band by a thin fibrous membrane called ‘M’ line
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→ Edges of thin filaments on either side of the thick filaments partially overlap the
free ends of the thick filaments
→ Central part of thick filament, not overlapped by thin filaments is called the ‘H’
zone
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Structure of contractile proteins
→ The two main contractile proteins are actin and myosin.
→ The monomeric unit of actin is known as G actin or globular actin.
→ Polymers of G actin form F actin or F filaments.
→ Two F filaments wrap around each other to form actin molecule.
→ A protein tropomyosin, run around the F actin.
→ Another protein, troponin, is distributed at regular intervals on
tropomyosin.
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→ Each myosin (thick) filament consists of approximately 300 myosin
protein molecule
→ Monomeric units of myosin are known as Meromyosins.
→ Each meromyosin has two parts: a globular head and a long tail.
→ Myosine Head has ATPase activity and actin binding site.
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Mechanism of muscle contraction
→ The muscle contraction is explained using sliding filament theory.
→ During the muscle contraction, thin filaments slide over thick
filaments.
→ Muscle contraction begins when a signal is transmitted from the
central nervous system to a motor neuron.
→ The junction between the motor neuron and muscle fiber(sarcolemma)
is known as neuromuscular junction.
→ Release of the neurotransmitter such as acetylcholine at neuromuscular
junction
generates action potential in the sarcolemma.
→ Action potential induces the sarcoplasmic reticulum to release calcium
ions into the sarcoplasm.
→ Increase in calcium level causes calcium ions to bind to troponin on
actin filaments.
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→ This uncover the active sites for myosin binding.
→ The ATPase activity of myosin exposes sites to allow cross bridge
formation between actin and myosin.
→ This causes shortening of sarcomere to bring the muscle contraction.
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during shortening of the muscle
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● contraction, the ‘I’ bands get reduced
● whereas the ‘A’ bands retain the length
Sliding filament theory
→ The calcium ion are then pumped back
into the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
→ This step masks the actin filaments
→ bringing muscles to its original
position.
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Mechanism of Muscle Contraction (Sliding Filament Theory)
→ Theory Proposed By: Huxley, 1954.
Mechanism
→ Muscle contraction occurs by sliding of thin filaments (actin) over thick
filaments (myosin).
→ Sarcomere shortens, but filaments do not change in length.
Steps of Contraction:
1. Nerve Impulse and Calcium Release:
→ Motor neuron release acetylcholine at neuromuscular junction.
→ It generates an action potential across sarcolemma and into T-tubules.
→ Sarcoplasmic Reticulum (SR) releases Ca²⁺ ions into sarcoplasm.
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2. Exposure of Binding Sites:
→ Ca²⁺ binds to troponin on actin.
→ Causes tropomyosin to shift, exposing active sites on actin.
3. Cross-Bridge Formation:
→ Myosin head (with ADP + Pi) binds to exposed active site on actin forming a
cross-bridge.
4. Power Stroke:
→ ADP + Pi released → myosin head tilts → pulls actin filament → muscle
contracts.
5. Detachment and Resetting:
→ ATP binds to myosin head → detaches from actin.
→ ATP hydrolyzed → myosin head re-cocks to repeat cycle.
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6. Relaxation:
→ When neural signal stops-
○ Ca²⁺ pumped back into SR.
○ Troponin-tropomyosin complex covers actin.
○ Cross-bridges stop, muscle relaxes.
Lactic acid formation in muscles
→ Repeated muscle activation leads to lactic acid accumulation in muscles
for example, during exercise or running.
→ This occurs due to anaerobic breakdown of glycogen in muscles. This
causes muscle pain and fatigue.
