L2.8: Muscle Tissue

• Muscle tissue

  • Skeletal muscle tissue
  • Cardiac muscle
  • Smooth muscle
• • Its specialized function is to contract (shorten) which generates force to produce movement.
  • Muscle must be irritable to contract
  • Readily change in shape


  Muscle tissue
• Definition

  • Attached to the skeleton or on bones or skin.
  • Voluntarily (consciously) controlled.
  • Packed by connective tissue sheets
  • They have obvious striations (stripes)


  Skeletal muscle tissue
• Characteristics

  • Striations (stripes)
  • Multinucleate (more than one nucleus)
  • Long, cylindrical shape


  Skeletal muscle tissue
• Produce

  • Gross body movements
  • Facial expressions



  Skeletal muscle tissue
• Definition

  • Involuntary control
  • Only in the heart
  • Pumps blood through blood vessels


  Cardiac muscle tissue
• Characteristics

  • Striations
  • One nucleus, short, branching cells (look somewhat like bamboo)
  • Intercalated discs
  • Areas between cells which contain gap junctions to connect cells together so that the impulse spreads across the heart synchronously.



  Cardiac muscle tissue
• Definition

  • Involuntary control
  • Lining and contraction of products


  Smooth muscle tissue (visceral muscle)
• Characteristics

  • No visible striations
  • Single nucleus
  • Spindle-shaped cells
  • Contractions are longer and slower than the other two muscle types.


  Smooth muscle tissue (visceral muscle)
• Location

  • Where constricting and and enlarging is required
  • Walls of hollow organs
  • Peristalsis - a wavelike activity that moves digested material through the small intestine
  • Blood vessels



  Smooth muscle tissue (visceral muscle)