Skeletal Muscle Excitation

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10/23/2012 Skeletal Muscle – Structure and Sliding filament mechanism & Excitation/contraction coupling PHYS20040 John.baugh@ucd.ie Skeletal Muscle • Activation – Action Potential arrives at NMJ – Release of ACh – Activation of motor end plate in muscle cell – Excitation contraction coupling • Mechanics – Sliding filament theory – Force dependent upon several structural features Muscle Structure 1 10/23/2012 Skeletal Muscle • Multiple muscle fibres bound together by connective tissue – Muscle fibre = single muscle cell • Multinucleated cell formed by fusion of multiple myoblasts during development • 10 – 100mM diameter • Up to 20cm in length • Limited capacity to regenerate from satellite cells • Compensation predominantly occurs via muscle cell hypertrophy – Muscle fibre composed of myofibrils (1-2mM cylinders) Hypertrophy Figure 9.02 Myofibrils bound into Tendons And linked to sarcolemma 2 10/23/2012 Muscle Contraction • Dependent upon free cytosolic (myoplasmic) Ca2+ • In a resting muscle cell [Ca2+] ≈ 0.1mM • Half-maximal muscle contraction occurs with [Ca2+] ≈ 1mM • Relatively small increase in Ca2+ gives massive response • How do you get calcium quickly to the right parts of the cell? Ca2+ • We know there is a huge concentration gradient between the extracellular and intracellular environment – But if you consider structure of Muscle cell does it make sense to rely upon extracellular calcium? Figure 9.11 3 10/23/2012 Passage of an action potential along the transverse tubule opens nearby voltage-gated calcium channels, the “ryanodine receptor,” located on the sarcoplasmic reticulum, and calcium ions released into the cytosol bind to troponin. The calcium-troponin complex “pulls” tropomyosin off the myosin-binding site of actin, thus allowing the binding of the crossbridge, followed by its

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