EQ: How do our muscles in our body contract? Muscle System EQ: How do our muscles in our body contract?
Root Words
3 Kinds of Muscle Skeletal Smooth (stomach, intestine) Cardiac
Skeletal Composed of fibers and filaments that contract and relaxed when stimulated
Motor Neurons Neurons that controls the contraction of skeletal muscles
Synapse The connection point where the neuron communicates with the tissue
Acetylcholine The neurotransmitter that stimulates contraction. Synthesized in the cytoplasm of motor neuron
Composition Myofibrils- Muscle threads that lie parallel to one another (2 kinds of myofilaments) Myosin- Thick protein filament Actin- Thin protein filament
Cross Bridge Little hands that extend from Myosin to “grab” the actin. This causes the contraction
Sliding Filament Model Thick and thin filaments (myosin and actin) do not change length. Rather, they slide past one another
Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Specialized cell that regulates the calcium ion concentration in the cytoplasm of muscle cells
Calcium Muscle contraction 1. Action Potential runs through neurons 2. Sends message through Transverse Tubules (T-tubes) 3. Release Calcium ions through Sarcoplasmic Reticulum 4. Calcium release ions for ATP contraction
Sliding filament theory ATP binds to a myosin head, which is released from an actin filament The myosin head attaches to an actin binding site with the help of Calcium
Sarcomere The striations formed with the repeating pattern of Myosin and Actin
Sarcomere During contraction, the filaments do not get shorter, but the Sarcomere will shorten
Creatine Phosphate
Left Side Activity Draw a picture of a muscle that is at rest and then draw it again when it is contracted. Explain what is going on.