Muscle Physiology
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Muscle
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Comprises largest group of tissues in the body
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3 types of muscle:
Skeletal muscle
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make up the muscular system; moves bone
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Only muscle type that is voluntary
Cardiac muscle
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Found only in the heart
Smooth muscle
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Appears throughout the body systems as components of hollow
organs and tubes
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Muscle is classified in two different ways:
Appearance: striated vs. not striated
Control: voluntary vs. involuntary
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The purpose of all muscle tissue is contraction
, this is what makes it unique
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Controlled muscle contraction allows:
Purposeful movement of the whole body or parts of the body
Manipulation of external objects
Propulsions of contents through various hollow internal organs
Emptying of contents of certain organs to external environment
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This means excretion of urine and feces out of the body
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Structure of skeletal muscle
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Muscle consists of a number of muscle fibers lying parallel to one
another and held together by connective tissue
A single skeletal muscle cell is known as a muscle fiber
Skeletal muscle cells are:
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Multinucleated: one cell has many nuclei
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Large, elongated, and cylindrically shaped
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