Roshodd Smith

Mrs.Lafferty
January 16, 2015

Muscle System
The skeletal muscle is a well organized body tissue that is composed of structures getting smaller and
smaller. Each skeletal muscle is made of many units called fascicles,
fascicles are bound together by a
type of connective tissue called fascia. Fascicles are made of a smaller unit called muscle fibers. Smaller
strands called myofibrils organize muscle fibers. The myofibrils move as skeletal muscle contracts. It is
the interaction of the myofibrils as they slide and pull alongside each other that gives skeletal muscle its
functional ability to do work and move things.

When a Neuron stimulates a muscle cell an action potential sweeps over the plasma membrane
of the muscle cell. The action potential releases internal stores of calcium that flow through the
muscle cell and trigger a contraction. Muscle cells have an elaborate architecture that allows

them to distribute calcium ions quickly throughout the sidosal. D tubular invaginations of the
plasma membrane are called t tubule criss cross the cell. When the cell is stimulated a wave of
depolarization, that is an action potential, spreads from the synapse over the plasma membrane
and via the t tubule deep into the cell. A voltage sensitive protein in these membranes opens the
calcium release channel in the adjacent sarcoplasmic reticulum which is the major calcium
store in muscle cells. Thereby releasing a burst of calcium ions all throughout the sidosa of the
cells. Within a contractual bundle of a muscle cell called a myofibril, the calcium interacts with
protein filaments to trigger a contraction. In each contracting unit or sarcomere thin actin and
thick myosin filaments are juxtaposed but cannot interact in the absence of calcium. This is
because myosin binding sites on the actin filaments are all covered by a rod shaped protein
called tropomyosin. A calcium sensitive complex called troponin is attached to the end of each
tropomyosin molecule. When calcium floods the cell troponin binds to it moving tropomyosin off
the myosin binding sites. Opening the minding binding sites on the actin filaments allows the
myosin motors to crawl along the actin resulting in a contraction of the muscle fiber. Calcium is
the quickly returned to the sarcoplasmic reticulum by the action of a calcium pulp. Without
calcium myosin releases actin and the filaments slide back to their original positions.

Length of
myofiber before
ATP solution

Length of
myofiber after
ATP solution

Initial M
Contracted MM
Change of
Length

%=100*intial
length

Trial 1

17mm

11mm

6mm

35%

Trial 2

15MM

12mm

3mm

20%

Trial 3

22mm

15mm

7mm

32%

Trial 4

18mm

11mm

7mm

39%

Trial 5

!3mm

8mm

5mm

38%

Before ATP

After ATP

I-F=Change

PErcent

Trial 1

7mm

14mm

-7mm

100%

Trial 2

3mm

7mm

-4mm

133%

Trial 3

4mm

6mm

-2mm

50%

Continuous Grip Lab

Verna

Roshodd

10 seconds

150.1 N

260.1 N

20-30 seconds

93.3 N

248.8 N

40-50 seconds

86.1 N

159.6 N

60-70 seconds

91.8 N

126.4 N

80-90 seconds

85 N

134.4 N

Picture Above: Constant Grip Strength Lab.

Picture Below: Repetitive Grip Strength Lab.
Roshodd

Verna

10 seconds

153.9 N

185.4 N

20-30 seconds

82.4 N

262.5 N

40-50 seconds

104.5 N

176 N

60-70 seconds

99.4 N

200.4 N

80-90 seconds

86.3 N

275.7 N