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Smooth muscle differs from skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle in terms of structure, function, regulation of contraction, and excitation-contraction coupling. However, smooth muscle tissue tends to demonstrate greater elasticity and function within a larger length-tension curve than striated muscle. This ability to stretch and still maintain ...
Depiction of smooth muscle contraction. Muscle contraction is the activation of tension-generating sites within muscle cells. [1] [2] In physiology, muscle contraction does not necessarily mean muscle shortening because muscle tension can be produced without changes in muscle length, such as when holding something heavy in the same position. [1]
To summarize, vasoconstriction is a physiological process that involves the narrowing of blood vessels, particularly arteries and arterioles, resulting in a reduction of blood flow to specific tissues or organs. This phenomenon is primarily regulated by the contraction of smooth muscle cells within the vessel walls.
Calmodulin mediates many crucial processes such as inflammation, metabolism, apoptosis, smooth muscle contraction, intracellular movement, short-term and long-term memory, and the immune response. [32] [33] Calcium participates in an intracellular signaling system by acting as a diffusible second messenger to the initial stimuli.
Smooth muscle contraction is regulated by the autonomic nervous system, hormones, and local chemical signals, allowing for gradual and sustained contractions. This type of muscle tissue is also capable of adapting to different levels of stretch and tension, which is important for maintaining proper blood flow and the movement of materials ...
The sliding filament theory explains the mechanism of muscle contraction based on muscle proteins that slide past each other to generate movement. [1] According to the sliding filament theory, the myosin ( thick filaments ) of muscle fibers slide past the actin ( thin filaments ) during muscle contraction, while the two groups of filaments ...
The smooth muscle of the blood vessels reacts to the stretching of the muscle by opening ion channels, which cause the muscle to depolarize, leading to muscle contraction. This significantly reduces the volume of blood able to pass through the lumen, which reduces blood flow through the blood vessel.
Vascular smooth muscle cells also play important roles during development, e.g. driving osteocyte differentiation from undifferentiated precursors during osteogenesis. [1] Arteries have a great deal more smooth muscle within their walls than veins, thus their greater wall thickness. This is because they have to carry pumped blood away from the ...