Exercise 2 Review Sheet

Definitions/Explanations:

Motor Unit: consists of a motor neuron and all of the muscle fibers it innervates/supplies.

Neuromuscular Junction (NMJ): the point where the axon terminal of the motor neuron meets a
specialized region of the muscles cell’s plasma membrane (the motor end-plate).

Twitch: a brief contraction of all the muscle fibers in a motor unit in response to a single action potential
in its motor neuron. A twitch has three phases: 1. Latent period – the period of time that elapses between
the generation of an action potential in a muscle cell and the start of a muscle contraction. 2. Contraction
phase – the period of time that starts at the end of the latent period and ends when muscle tension peaks.
3. Relaxation phase – the period of time from peak tension until the end of the muscle contraction.

Threshold: the minimum intensity or value that will produce a response or specified effect.

Treppe: the progressive increase in force generated when a muscle is stimulated at a sufficiently high
frequency. The staircase effect of successive increases in the extent of contractions following rapid,
repeated stimulation of a muscle.

Summation: the effect resulting from stimulating a muscle repeatedly, such that the stimuli arrive one
after another within a short period of time, which causes twitches to overlap with each other resulting in a
stronger muscle contraction than a stand-alone twitch.

Tetanus: a state in which the muscle’s force reaches a plateau if stimuli continue to be applied frequently
to the muscle over a prolonged period of time.

Faitgue: a decline in the muscle’s ability to maintain a constant force of contraction after prolonged,
repetitive stimulation. The inability of a muscle to contract forcefully after prolonged activity.

Isometric contraction: The contraction generated when a muscle attempts to move a load that is greater
than the force generated by the muscle. A contraction that creates force without movement; the muscle
stays the same length.

Isotonic contraction: The contraction generated when a muscle attempts to move a load that is equal to
or less than the force generated by the muscle. A contraction that creates force and moves a load; the
muscle shortens during a period of time in which the force generated by the muscle remains constant.

Important concepts:

~The force created by a contracting muscle is called the muscle tension. The load is a weight or force
that opposes contraction of a muscle.

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~Each skeletal muscle (i.e. trapezius, biceps brachii) is a separate organ composed of hundreds to
thousands of cells, which are called muscle fibers because of their elongated shapes. Connective tissues
surround muscle fibers and whole muscles, and blood vessels and nerves penetrate muscles.

Supplemental Learning Tools:

See the following site for a great narrated animation of the mechanism of the sliding filament during
contraction of a myofibril: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/matthews/myosin.html