11 - Types Of

Skeletal Muscle
Contractions

Taft College
Human Physiology
 Types Of Skeletal Muscle
Contractions
• Isotonic Contractions: Tension produced and overall shortening of the
muscle as a load is moved through the range of motion of the joint .
– Isotonic contractions serve to bring about movement or change in body
position. Example = flexion, extension, adduction, abduction, etc.
• Isometric Contractions: Tension but no shortening of the muscle
occurs. Energy is still used!
– Example:contractions that serve to keep the body fixed in position as in 1.
maintaining posture, 2. maintaining balance, 3. fixing a proximal joint so a
distal joint may move, 4. maintaining muscle tone.
• Most body activities involve both isotonic and isometric contractions.
• Twitch: A single isotonic response as a result of a single threshold (liminal)
stimulus. (This is not the type of twitch you feel in your body due to being
tired or a chemical imbalance).
• The muscle contracts quickly and then relaxes.
• A twitch can be demonstrated with an instrument that produces a
myogram= a tracing of a muscle contraction or activity.
Types Of Skeletal Muscle Contractions
Isotonic Contraction = Isometric Contraction =
Tension + Shortening of muscle Tension, no Shortening of muscle
 A Myogram of 3 Phases (Periods) of a Muscle Twitch
1. Latent Period – the time from stimulation of the muscle until shortening of the muscle
begins.
The latent period is a “lag time”.
Duration = about 2 ms.
During this period of time the following events of muscle contraction are occurring:
a. Depolarization
b. Diffusion of Ca+2
c. Establishment of actin/myosin bonding
2. Contraction Period – Tension and shortening of the muscle occurs.
The upward tracing represents this phase.
Duration = 10-100 ms.
3. Relaxation Period – Muscle goes back to it resting state.
The Ca++ is actively transported back into the SR which results in relaxation.
The downward tracing represents this phase.
Duration = 10-100 ms.

•Muscles differ in the

amount of time it takes to
through 3 phases.
Ex.
eye muscles 12 millisec
= Fast Twitch Muscle
gastrocnemius 36 millisec,
soleus 100 millisec
= Slow Twitch Muscle
 3 Types of Skeletal Muscle Fibers
• In humans we see 3 types of skeletal muscle fibers
classified based on :
• 1. How fast a muscle will twitch (due to how fast it splits
ATP) and,
• 2. Metabolic pathway used to generate ATP (glycolytic
(anaerobic) or oxidative).
• We will concentrate on only 2 fiber types a. slow twitch =
slow oxidative fiber and b. fast twitch = fast glycolytic fiber.
 Fast & Slow Twitch Muscle Fibers
Fast Glycolytic Slow Oxidative
Fast Twitch Slow Twitch

Color White = Light Red = Dark

Size Large fibers Small fibers

few mitochondria more mitochondria

Reaction Fast (anaerobic) Slow (aerobic)

Function Speed Endurance

Location Eye muscles & Postural muscles &

upper appendages lower appendages

Rate of fatigue Fast Slow

Examples: eye muscles 12 millisec gastrocnemius 36 millisec
soleus 100 millisec
Table of Characteristics of Skeletal Muscle Types
Slow Twitch Fast Twitch Fast Twitch
Structural Features Slow Oxidative Fast Oxidative Fast Glycolytic
Diameter or Fiber Smallest Intermediate Largest
Color/Myoglobin Red/large Red-pink/large White/small
Mitochondria Many Many Few
Functional Features Slow Oxidative Fast Oxidative Fast Glycolytic
ATP Production Aerobic (O2) process Aerobic (O2) process Glycolysis (anaerobic)
ATP use/Velocity
of Contraction Slow Fast Fast
Resists Fatigue High Intermediate Low
Glycogen Stores Low Intermediate High
Order of recruitment 1st 3rd 2nd
 Skeletal Muscle Types
• Slow Oxidative: Maintain posture (anti-gravity
muscles), endurance running.
Back and neck muscles.

• Fast Oxidative: Walking, sprinting.

Leg muscles.

• Fast Glycolytic: Rapid, intense movements of

short duration. Ball throwing, weight lifting.
Arm muscles.
 Implications for Sports

• Number of red (slow twitch) vs. white (fast twitch)

muscle fibers is hereditary

– Conditioning and training can do nothing to change the

ratio (New research may show otherwise)

– E.g. Alberto Salizaar – New York marathon winner had

92% red vs. 8% white. Other runners tend to have fewer
red and more white in comparison.
• Sprinters contain about 60% fast oxidative.
• Weight lifters have about equal amounts fast glycolytic and slow
oxidative
• Determination of muscle fiber ratios can be done by muscle
biopsy.
Other animals use of muscle cell types

• Concentrations of fast and slow twitch muscles

can be observed in other animals as well as
humans.

• The light and dark meat of a chicken has to do

with concentrations of different types of muscle
fibers.
– A chicken uses it’s breast muscle (white meat) for
short flight if at all = fast twitch. The legs (dark meat)
of a chicken serve for endurance = slow twitch.
– What type of meat would you expect to find in the
breast of a migratory duck? Dark meat = slow twitch
for endurance.
 Physiology Assignment #4
• Name__________________________
• Due Date ___________
• Internet assignment (Attach article)
• What are the implications of fast/slow
twitch muscle in sports (any sport you
wish).
• Is it possible to change the percentage of
fast twitch to slow twitch muscles you have
or is it genetically determined?
 Anabolic Steroid Abuse
• Testosterone (found in men) and human
growth hormone influence muscle growth.

• Anabolic steroid drugs are testosterone-like

and are abused by athletes to increase
muscle size & strength and endurance.

– Moderate doses – no better than optimal training.

– Large doses…..damage to body.
 Anabolic Steroid Abuse
• Problems:
– liver cancer, kidney cancer, heart disease,
aggressive behavior, mood swings.

– Females: sterility, facial hair, deep voice,

atrophy of breasts and uterus, menstrual
irregularities.

– Males: testes atrophy, less sperm production,

baldness.
 Types of Skeletal Muscle (cont.)
• Tetanus – sustained contraction of a muscle due to increased frequency of stimulation.
Result of a summation of twitches (a normal muscle contraction)
– When the frequency of the stimulation is such that there is no hint of reduced tension or
force between stimuli, it is called complete tetany or fused tetany. 80-100 stim/sec
– When the frequency of stimulation is reduced slightly, you can see partial muscle
relaxation occurring between contractions, this is called incomplete tetany or unfused
tetany. 20-30 stim/sec
• Incomplete tetany can result in trembling (shaky) movements of the limbs observed in some
individuals.
– Normal muscle contractions with smooth movement are a result of complete tetanic
contractions.
Twitches
 Types of Skeletal Muscle (cont.)
• Treppe – increased strength of contraction as muscle
“warms up” due to identical stimuli too far apart for wave
summation to occur.
• It is also known as the ‘staircase effect’, as the muscle steps
up its strength with each contraction.
e

How does this

pp

myogram differ from

e
Tr

incomplete tetanus?
Tension Increasing

How do we know this

is not wave
summation?
Hint

Stimulus constant
 Types of Skeletal Muscle (cont.)
• Treppe can be explained as follows:

• A progressive buildup of Ca++ in the sarcoplasm probably

accumulates because the stimuli release Ca++ faster than the
Ca++ pump can move them back in to the SR.
– The troponin becomes saturated for maximum binding to myosin
heads.
– Eventually the inflow and outflow of calcium ions equalize and the
strength of contraction level off

• In your warming muscles, the sarcoplasm becomes less

viscous. With more heat and the internal resistance of the
muscle lessened it allows more energy to be directed to
muscle shortening and less to overcome resistance.
– With heat from ATP splitting and other chemical reactions, the enzyme
systems become more efficient.
– This is the basis for the warm-up period for athletes.
 Muscle Tone
• Tone is a sustained partial state of contraction in
the muscle.

• Tone is maintained in the body without fatigue

by the alternation of different motor units. It
serves to keep the body in a state of readiness
for activity at all times.

• It is believed that the contractions are some type

of involuntary spinal reflexes responding to
activation of stretch receptors in muscles and
tendons.
 Muscle Tone
• Hypotonia – Refers to decreased or lost muscle tone,
resulting in flaccid (flattened) shape instead of round.

• Atrophy – Wasting of muscle tissue where muscle fibers

decrease in size as myofibrils are lost.

• Hypertrophy – Opposite of atrophy. Refers to an

increase in diameter of muscle fibers where myofibrils,
mitochondria, and SR are increased. No increase in # of
cells. Capillaries servicing muscle fibers are increased
too.
– Due to forceful, repetitive strength training, which results in
increased capacity for forceful contractions.
 Muscle Tone
Muscle tone can be lost quickly:

• If muscle usage is prevented by a cast (disuse atrophy), or

by a severing of the nerves (denervation atrophy), the
muscle fibers begin to atrophy in just a few days.

• Prolonged inactivity can lead to degeneration of the muscle

fibers and potential replacement by scar tissue (C.T.,
including fat), which cannot be reversed when complete.

• Direct stimulation of the inactive muscle using a muscle

stimulator may prevent atrophy until the muscle is removed
from the cast or the severed nerve fibers can remake
connections.

• The important thing to realize is that muscle health is

maintained in part by utilization - “use it, or lose it!”
 Smooth Muscle
• Smooth muscle is also called involuntary muscle (under ANS control)
and nonstriated muscle (lacks organized sarcomeres).
– Actin and myosin myofilaments are present but are not regularly
arranged leading to the absence of light and dark bands that cause
the striations in skeletal muscle tissue.

Characteristics of smooth muscle in comparison to skeletal muscle

Smooth muscle has:
1. 7 times less actin & myosin in smooth muscle than skeletal muscle.
2. Lower levels of ATP & creatinine phosphate
3. Fewer number of mitochondria with slow contractions.
4. Smooth muscle cells lack T-tubules. Slower onset of contraction.
5. Have poorly developed sarcoplasmic reticulum. Takes Ca++ longer to
diffuse. Also delays in transport of Ca ++ for longer contraction.
6. Contraction stimulated by a. neurotransmitters (ACh, NE by ANS),
b. hormones
c. local chemical changes (pH, O2, CO2),
d. stretching.

So smooth muscle is designed for slow reacting, but prolonged contractions.

 Abnormal Contractions Of Muscle Tissue
• Spasm – A sudden involuntary muscle twitch
(contraction of short duration), usually due to a
chemical imbalance.

• Cramp – A sustained, painful, spasmodic (tetanic)

contraction of a muscle.
– Can last minutes to hours.
– Severe cramps usually occur when the muscle is
shortened (when there is little pull on the tendons).
– Usually occurs at night or after exercise.
– It is not known what actually happens at the level of a
sarcomere during a cramp. However, the pull on the
tendons of muscles are constantly monitored by sense
organs called golgi tendon organs
 Abnormal Contractions Of Muscle Tissue
• Golgi tendon organs act to inhibit or “apply the brakes” to
muscular contraction to prevent the development of too great
of tensile force that could result in injury to the muscle or
tendon.
– Learning how to disinhibit (keep the golgi tendon organs
from working) may be an important part of strength
training.
– Maximal vigorous contractions in a shortened position
seems to increase the probability of cramping as you
have maximal innervation with minimal inhibition.
• How can you relieve cramps in light of this information?
– Simply forcing the muscle into its longest position
(stretching) will create tension on the golgi tendon organ.
• The inhibition caused by the golgi tendon organ will then stop the
cramp.
 Abnormal Contractions Of Muscle Tissue
• Convulsions – Violent, involuntary
contractions of whole groups of muscles.
– Convulsions occur when motor neurons are
stimulated by factors such as fever, poisons,
hysteria, and changes in body chemistry due to
drug withdrawals.
– The stimulated neurons send seemingly
senseless impulses to the muscle fibers.
– This is a nervous disorder not a muscular
disorder.
 Abnormal Contractions Of Muscle Tissue

• Fibrillation – Uncoordinated contraction of

individual muscle fibers so that the muscle
fails to contract smoothly.
– Cardiac muscle is most prone to this type of
activity and is recorded by electromyography.