Module 2: Tissues II – Muscle and Nervous
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this class, students will be able to:
- Compare and contrast skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle.
- Describe the properties, and functions of skeletal muscle tissue.
- Describe the anatomy of skeletal muscle tissue.
- Analyze how the size of a motor unit contributes to the function of a muscle.
- Summarize the effects of exercise and aging on muscle tissue.
- Describe the divisions of the nervous system and their contents.
- Understand how neurons communicate with each other.
- Compare and contrast the nervous system and endocrine system.
- Identify the different types of neurons and glial cells and their functions.
- Understand the process of axonal regeneration and apply that knowledge to nervous system injury and pathology.
- Describe the different types neural modalities.
Terms to Know
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Types of Muscle Tissue
Skeletal Muscle Tissue – Details
*Covered only in lecture, not in this text |
Nervous System
Neuron
Glial Cells
Nerves
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Muscle Tissue
This content is covered in the assignment and reviewed and built upon in lecture.
Muscle is one of the four primary tissue types of the body. All types of muscle tissues function to produce some form of movement. This includes movements of our bones, joints, and skin (muscles of facial expression); movement of our heart as it contracts; movements in our internal structures, such as our digestive tract, blood vessels, and iris of our eye; and movements that open and close body passageways.
All muscle cells, or myocytes, share the following characteristics:
- Excitability: can respond to a stimulus.
- Contractility: can contract and shorten the length of the fiber. The contraction of muscle tissue can be under voluntary, or conscious control, or involuntary, unconscious control.
- Extensibility: can stretch or extend beyond its resting length.
- Elasticity: can return to its original length when relaxed.
Types of Muscle Tissue
This information is covered in the assignment and built upon in lecture.
Muscle tissue is classified into three types according to structure and function: skeletal, cardiac, and smooth. Skeletal muscle tissue forms the muscles that move our bones and joints. Skeletal muscle fibers, or muscle cells, are long, cylindrical fibers that span the entire length of a muscle. We will discuss skeletal muscle more in-depth later in this module. Cardiac muscle tissue is found in the heart. We will discuss the heart and cardiac muscle more in module 13. Cardiomyocytes, or cardiac muscle fibers, are much smaller and shorter than skeletal muscle fibers, and they are extensively branched. They contain intercalated discs with gap junctions that form communication channels between adjacent cardiomyocytes, allowing cardiac muscle cells to contract in a wave-like pattern so the heart can work as a coordinated pump. Both skeletal and cardiac muscle tissue appears striated, or striped, due to the arrangement of their contractile