4.1 - Neuromuscular Function

• Dendrite


  The tentacles that receive the information that is being send down the CNS
• Nucleus

  where the cell's activities are calculated and coordinated
• Axon


  a long transportation device that runs down the middle of the neuron
• Motor End Plate


  little receptors that sit just on the muscle tissue
• Synapse


  this site of transmission from and motor end plate to the muscle
• Muscle

  skeletal muscle in bicep
• Acetylcholine


  a neurotransmitter that allows the impulse to travel across the synapse, changing the electrical impulse into a chemical stimulus that travels across the stimulus and binds with sodium receptors, that allow sodium ions to travel into the muscle cell to begin the sliding filament theory ( muscle contraction)
• Cholinesterase


  an enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine, immediately depolarizing the membrane allowing the muscle to relax as no more sodium ions are allowed into the muscle cell, therefore, no contraction can take place
• Sarcomere


  the basic contractile unit of a muscle fibre it is composed of two main protein filaments (actin and myosin filaments) which are the active structured responsible for muscular contraction
• Actin Fliament

  responsible for working with myosin filaments for muscular contraction
• Myosin Filament


  responsible for working with actin filaments for muscular contraction
• H-zone


  the centre of the A band where there is no overlap between the thick and thin filaments, consist of only thick filament, it becomes smaller as the muscle contracts and the sarcomere shortens
• A-band


  the region of a striated muscle sarcomere that contains myosin thick filaments, the A band of the entire length of the thick filament of the sarcomere
• Z-Line

  defines the boundaries of a muscle sarcomere, the attachment sites for the thin filaments, this filaments extend to two neighbouring sarcomeres, muscle fibres contract the z line of sarcomere move closer together.