- More than 50% of the human body is composed of muscle. There are three main types of muscle: skeletal, cardiac, and smooth.
- Skeletal muscle is voluntary, striated muscle found attached to bones that facilitates movement. It has long, multi-nucleated cylindrical fibers.
- Cardiac muscle is involuntary, striated muscle found only in the heart. It has branched fibers connected by intercalated discs that contract in unison.
- Smooth muscle is involuntary, non-striated muscle that lines internal organs. It has spindle-shaped, single-nucleated fibers that facilitate movements like peristalsis.
4. Classification of muscle
Voluntary Involuntary
Limbs Heart Viscera
Striated Non-striated
Skeletal Cardiac Smooth
Note: Control, Location and Structure
5. Skeletal muscle
• Large muscles
• Maintain posture
• Facilitate locomotion
• Move jointed bones
• Found in antagonistic pairs
• Joined to bones by tendons
6. Structure of skeletal muscle
• Each cell (fibre) is long and cylindrical
• Muscle fibres are multi-nucleated
• Typically 50-60mm in diameter, and up
to 10cm long
• The contractile elements of
skeletal muscle cells are
myofibrils
7. Skeletal muscle - Summary
• Voluntary movement
of skeletal parts
• Spans joints and
attached to skeleton
• Multi-nucleated,
striated, cylindrical
fibres
8. Cardiac muscle
• Main muscle of heart
• Pumping mass of heart
• Critical in humans
• Heart muscle cells
behave as one unit
• Heart always contracts
to it’s full extent
9. Structure of cardiac muscle
• Cardiac muscle cells (fibres) are short,
branched and interconnected
• Cells are striated & multi-nucleated
• Adjacent cardiac cells joined via
electrical synapses (gap junctions)
• These gap junctions appear as dark
lines when viewed under LM, and are
called intercalated discs
10. Cardiac muscle - Summary
• Found in the heart
• Involuntary rhythmic
contraction
• Branched, striated
fibre with single
nucleus and
intercalated discs
11. Smooth muscle
• Lines walls of viscera
• Found in longitudinal or
circular arrangement
• Alternate contraction of
circular & longitudinal
muscle in the intestine
leads to peristalsis
12. Structure of smooth muscle
• Spindle shaped uni-nucleated cells
• Striations not observed
• Actin and myosin filaments are present
• Ratio of thin-to-thick filaments is 16:1 (in
striated muscle this is 2:1)
• Myosin filaments are attached to
dense bodies at the end of each
cell
13. Smooth muscle - Summary
• Found in walls of
hollow internal
organs
• Involuntary
movement of
internal organs
• Elongated, spindle
shaped fibre with
single nucleus
14. Muscle Control
Type of
muscle
Nervous
control
Type of
control
Example
Skeletal
Skeletal Controlled
by CNS
Voluntary Lifting a
glass
Cardiac Regulated
by ANS
Involuntary Heart
beating
Smooth Controlled
by ANS
Involuntary Peristalsis