Muscle, Tendon,

ligaments Nerves
Structure and Function
DR. FAISAL MASOOD
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
HUMAN BODY
• Human Body Is Like A Movie
• Beauty of this movie is movements
• Beauty of movements is balance
• And beauty of balance is by tissues
• Bone- skeletal platform
• Muscles – moving unit
• Nerves- motor and sensory unit
• Ligaments and tendons- Supporting Role
Muscle Tissue Types
• Skeletal
– Attached to bones
– Nuclei multiple and peripherally located
– During development, 100 or more myoblasts, a type of
mesodermal cell, fuse to form a skeletal muscle fiber.
– Striated, Voluntary and involuntary (reflexes)
• Smooth
– Walls of hollow organs, blood vessels, eye, glands, skin
– Single nucleus centrally located
– Not striated, involuntary, gap junctions in visceral smooth
• Cardiac- In the heart only.
– Single nucleus centrally located
– Striations, involuntary, intercalated disks
Muscular System Functions

• Body movement
• Maintenance of posture
• Respiration
• Production of body heat
• Communication
• Constriction of organs and vessels
• Heart beat
Properties of Muscle

• Contractility
– Ability of a muscle to shorten with force
– It DOES NOT produce force by lengthening/pushing!
• Excitability
– Capacity of muscle to respond to a stimulus
• Extensibility
– Muscle can be stretched to its normal resting length and
beyond to a limited degree
• Elasticity
– Ability of muscle to recoil to original resting length
after stretched
Skeletal Muscle

• Long cylindrical cells

• Many nuclei per cell
• Striated
• Voluntary
• Rapid contractions
 Structural hierarchy of skeletal muscle

Muscle

A little less than half of the body’s

mass is composed of skeletal
muscle, with most muscles linked
Muscle fibers to bones by tendons through which
the forces and movements
developed during contractions
Muscle fiber
are transmitted to the skeleton.

Myofibril
Sarcomere

Modified from McMahon, Muscles, Reflexes and Locomotion

Princeton University Press, 1984.
Muscle Proteins
• Contractile Proteins (actin and myosin)

• Regulatory Proteins (i.e. tropomyosin and troponin)

• Structural Proteins (i.e. Titin)

Skeletal Muscle
• Produce movement
• Maintain posture & body position
• Support Soft Tissues
• Guard entrance / exits
• Maintain body temperature
• Store nutrient reserves
• Makes up aprox. 40% of body weight
Skeletal Muscle Structure
Connective Tissue, Nerve,
Blood Vessels
• Connective tissue
– External lamina
– Endomysium
– Perimysium
– Fasciculus
– Epimysium
• Fascia
• Nerve and blood vessels
– Abundant
Organization of myofilaments I:
Organization of myofilaments II:
Z line Z line
Motor units

• Motor unit: Composed of one

motor neuron and all the muscle
fibers that it innervates

• There are many motor units in a

muscle

• The number of fibers innervated

by a single motor neuron varies
(from a few to thousand)

• The fewer the number of fibers

per neuron  the finer the
movement (more brain power)

• Which body part will have the

largest motor units? The
smallest?
Muscle is plastic!
Muscle “adapts” to meet the habitual level of demand placed on it, i.e. level
of physical activity.

Level of physical activity Continuum of Physical Activity

determined by the
frequency of recruit- strength
trained
ment and the load.

Increase muscle use

– endurance training
– strength training endurance
Load

(cannot be optimally trained

trained for both strength controls
and endurance)

Decrease muscle use

– prolonged bed rest inactivity
– limb casting
– denervation Frequency of recruitment
– space flight.
Adapted from Faulkner, Green and White
In: Physical Activity, Fitness, and Health, Ed. Bouchard, Shephard and Stephens
Human Kinetics Publishers, 1994
 Endurance training
Little hypertrophy but major biochemical adaptations within muscle fibers.

Increased numbers of mitochondria; concentration and activities of oxidative

enzymes (e.g. succinate dehydrogenase, see below).

Succinate dehy-
drogenase (SDH)
activity:
Low activity light
High activity dark

Control 12-weeks
treadmill running
Images courtesy of John Faulkner and Timothy White
Disuse causes atrophy -- USE IT OR LOSE IT!
Individual fiber atrophy (loss of myofibrils) with no loss in fibers.
Effect more pronounced in Type II fibers.

“Completely reversible” (in young healthy individuals).

ATPase activity:
Type I fibers light
Type II fibers dark

Control Prolonged
bed rest Images courtesy of John Faulkner
Muscle Contraction Types

Isotonic contraction

Isometric contraction
 Muscle Contraction Types

Isotonic contraction

Isometric contraction
 Muscle Contraction Types

Isotonic contraction

Isometric contraction
Action Potentials
• Phases
– Depolarization
• Inside plasma membrane
becomes less negative
– Repolarization
• Return of resting
membrane potential
• All-or-none principle
– Like camera flash system
• Propagate
– Spread from one location to
another
• Frequency
– Number of action potential
produced per unit of time
Excitation-Contraction Coupling

-Increasing levels of calcium ion (Ca2+) will start muscle contraction.

Decreases will stop it.

-Muscles at rest contain about 0.1 micromole per liter of calcium ion.

-Much greater concentrations of calcium ion are stored in the SR.

Concentrations may be 10,000x that of cytosol in relaxed muscle fiber.

-As muscle action potentials propogate along the T tubles, calcium ion
release channels in the SR are caused to open.
-When these channels are open, calcium ion flows into the cytosol of
the muscle fiber.

-As a result of this, calcium ion concentrations rise 10x or greater.

-Calcium ions bond with troponin and cause it to change shape. The
troponin-tropomyosin complex moves a way from myosin-bonding
sites on actin.

-This allows the myosin heads to bond with the actin, thus the
contraction cycle begins.
Treppe

• Graded response
• Occurs in muscle rested
for prolonged period
• Each subsequent
contraction is stronger
than previous until all
equal after few stimuli
 Creatine

Molecule capable of storing ATP energy

Creatine + ATP Creatine phosphate + ADP

ADP + Creatine phosphate ATP + Creatine

 Metabolism

• Aerobic metabolism
– 95% of cell demand
– Kreb’s cycle
– 1 pyruvic acid molecule  17 ATP
• Anaerobic metabolism
– Glycolysis  2 pyruvic acids + 2 ATP
– Provides substrates for aerobic metabolism
– As pyruvic acid builds converted to lactic acid
 Muscle Fatigue

• Muscle Fatigue
– When muscles can no longer perform a required
activity, they are fatigued

• Results of Muscle Fatigue

– Depletion of metabolic reserves
– Damage to sarcolemma and sarcoplasmic reticulum
– Low pH (lactic acid)
– Muscle exhaustion and pain
Fatigue
• Decreased capacity to work and reduced efficiency of
performance
• Types:
– Psychological
• Depends on emotional state of individual
– Muscular
• Results from ATP depletion
– Synaptic
• Occurs in neuromuscular junction due to lack of
acetylcholine
Slow and Fast Fibers
• Slow-twitch or high-oxidative
– Contract more slowly, smaller in diameter, better blood
supply, more mitochondria, more fatigue-resistant than
fast-twitch
• Fast-twitch or low-oxidative
– Respond rapidly to nervous stimulation, contain myosin
to break down ATP more rapidly, less blood supply,
fewer and smaller mitochondria than slow-twitch
• Distribution of fast-twitch and slow twitch
– Most muscles have both but varies for each muscle
• Effects of exercise
– Hypertrophies: Increases in muscle size
– Atrophies: Decreases in muscle size
Muscle Hypertrophy

• Muscle growth from

heavy training
• Increases diameter of
muscle fibers
• Increases number of
myofibrils
• Increases mitochondria,
glycogen reserves
 Muscle Atrophy

– Lack of muscle
activity
• Reduces muscle
size, tone, and
power
Steroid Hormones
• Stimulate muscle growth and hypertrophy
– Growth hormone
– Testosterone
– Thyroid hormones
– Epinephrine
Muscle Tonus
• Tightness of a muscle
• Some fibers always contracted
Tetany
• Sustained contraction of a muscle
• Result of a rapid succession of nerve impulses
Tetanus
Refractory Period
• Brief period of time in which muscle cells will not
respond to a stimulus
Refractory
Refractory Periods

Skeletal Muscle Cardiac Muscle

 NERVOUS SYSTEMS

• Central nervous system

• Peripheral nervous system
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM p. 33

• Brain
– Cerebral Cortex/Cerebrum
• Motor cortex
– Basal Ganglia/Diencephalon – sensory input
– Cerebellum – motor control
– Brain stem – sensory input
• Spinal Cord
PERIPHERAL NERVOUS
SYSTEM

• Somatic
– Sensory (Gamma) Nerves
– Motor (Alpha) Nerves
• Autonomic [FYI]
– Parasympathetic
– Sympathetic
NERVE ANATOMY

•A single nerve cell is called a neuron

•A bundle or group of neurons make up a
nerve
•A nerve contains both afferent and efferent
nerves
 Afferent Neuron

• Carry impulse towards the CNS (e.g. sensory

nerves)
• Synapse

Towards CNS
Efferent Neuron
• Carry impulse away from the CNS (e.g. motor
nerves)
1. Stimulatory
2. Inhibitory
 NEURON ANATOMY

• Dendrite
• Cell Body
• Axon
 AXON

1. Conduction
2. Myelin sheath
3. Synapse
4. Neurotransmitter
CONDUCTION

Resting State: Na outside, K inside

 CONDUCTION

4. Na K Pump 1. Depolarization

3. Repolarization 2. Propagation
MYELIN SHEATH
SYNAPSE
SYNAPSE
 SYNAPSE
•Quick Time Movie
NEUROMUSCULAR
JUNCTION
NEUROMUSCULAR
JUNCTION
 MOTOR UNIT

• Motor unit = one motor nerve + all

the muscle fibers it innervates.
• Types
– Fast (alpha -1)
– Slow (alpha -2)
 3

2
 MOTOR UNIT
Fast Fast Slow
 MUSCLE TENSION or FORCE or
STRENGTH

1. Number of MU
stimulated
2. Frequency of
stimulation to each
MU
3. Type of MU
stimulated
 1. Volitional Control
(Motor Cortex)
1. Motor cortex
2. Motor neurons
3. Muscles
 2. Reflex Control

1. Afferent neuron
– Sensory
neuron
2. Efferent neuron
– Motor neuron
 PROPRIOCEPTION &
KINESTHESIS p. 37
• Proprioception
– The ability to sense the position and location
and orientation and movement of the body
and its parts
• Kinesthesis
– The ability to feel movements of the limbs and
body
PROPRIOCEPTION

• Proprioceptors of the joints and

skin
–Meissner’s corpuscles
–Ruffini’s corpuscles
–Pacinian corpuscles
–Krause’s end-bulbs
PROPRIOCEPTION
• Proprioceptors of the muscles
–Muscle spindles
–Golgi tendon organs
muscle
spindle
Golgi Tendon Organs
 Golgi Tendon Organs
• Sensitive to muscle tension and active
contraction
• Protect muscle from excess contraction
force
• Stimulation of GTO an afferent impulse is
sent to the central nervous system
• In turn, efferent impulses are sent to the…
– Agonist muscle causing it to relax
– Antagonist muscle causing it to contract
Tendon and Ligament
 Roles of Ligaments and
Joint Capsules
• Assist in Stabilization of Joint

• Restrict Movement

• Prevent Excessive Motion

 Roles of Tendons
• Attach muscle to bone

• Transmit tensile loads

• Position of muscle relative to joint

 Mechanical Behavior of Tendons
and Ligaments
• Both are viscoelastic tissues
• Visco - a small amount of load results in quite a bit
of deformation (relative)
• Elastic - refers to Elastic Region
• Importance of viscoelastic qualities?
 Properties of Tendon

• can sustain high tensile loads

• flexible to allow changes in direction of muscle pull
 Properties of Ligament

• guides movement

• resists applied force

 Mechanical Properties
of Tendon and Ligament
• Strength
• Stiffness
 Damage to Tendon and Ligament
• When load is great enough to cause injury,
damage is dependent on:
– rate and
– amount of load
 Comparison of Bone to
Tendon and Ligament
• Identify similarities and differences between these
tissue types.
 Mechanical Properties of
Tendon and Ligament
• Strength
• Stiffness
 Injury Mechanisms
• Injury occurs when tissue is loaded beyond its
physiological range.
• Microfailure occurs before the yield point is
reached.
 Injury Mechanisms cont.
• When yield point is exceeded, the ligament begins
to undergo gross failure.

• Results in abnormal joint displacement

• Displacement results in...

 Additional Factors Important
in Tendon Injury
• Amount of force produced by muscle
• Stress comparison between tendon and muscle
• Loading Rates
 Factors Affecting Biomechanical
Properties of Tendon and Ligament
• Aging

• Pregnancy

• Mobilization vs. Immobilization

• NSAIDs