Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A sarcomere (Greek σάρξ sarx "flesh", μέρος meros "part") is the smallest functional unit of striated muscle tissue. [1] It is the repeating unit between two Z-lines. Skeletal muscles are composed of tubular muscle cells (called muscle fibers or myofibers) which are formed during embryonic myogenesis .
Sliding filament theory: A sarcomere in relaxed (above) and contracted (below) positions. The sliding filament theory explains the mechanism of muscle contraction based on muscle proteins that slide past each other to generate movement. [1]
The names of the various sub-regions of the sarcomere are based on their relatively lighter or darker appearance when viewed through the light microscope. Each sarcomere is delimited by two very dark colored bands called Z-discs or Z-lines (from the German zwischen meaning between). These Z-discs are dense protein discs that do not easily allow ...
Sliding filament theory: A sarcomere in relaxed (above) and contracted (below) positions. The sliding filament theory describes a process used by muscles to contract. It is a cycle of repetitive events that cause a thin filament to slide over a thick filament and generate tension in the muscle. [22]
The sarcomere then shortens which causes the muscle to contract. [3] In the skeletal muscles connected to tendons that pull on bones, the mysia fuses to the periosteum that coats the bone. Contraction of the muscle will transfer to the mysia, then the tendon and the periosteum before causing the bone to move.
Thin filaments of actin are the light filaments that make up the I band. The smallest contractile unit in the fiber is called the sarcomere which is a repeating unit within two Z bands . The sarcoplasm also contains glycogen which provides energy to the cell during heightened exercise, and myoglobin , the red pigment that stores oxygen until ...
Troponin also possesses a calcium ion binding site. These two regulatory proteins cooperate in response to calcium levels, overseeing sarcomere contraction. During muscle contraction, tropomyosin shifts to expose the myosin-binding site on an actin filament, allowing the interaction between actin and myosin microfilaments to occur. The ...
ATP is required to reuptake calcium into the sarcomere's sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). When a muscle is relaxed, the myosin heads are returned to their "high energy" position, ready and waiting for a binding site on the actin filament to become available. Because there is no ATP available, previously released calcium ions cannot return to the SR.