GROSS ANATOMY (Dr.

Valera) – Introduction to Skeletal Muscles

Muscular System
• Muscles are responsible for all types of body movement
• Approximately 48% of the body is muscle mass
Three Basic Muscle Types
SKELETAL MUSCLES Nerve Stimulus to Muscles
• Most are attached by tendons to bones • Skeletal muscles must be stimulated by a nerve to contract
• Cells are multi-nucleated • Motor unit
o One neuron – muscle cells will be stimulated by it
• Striated – have visible banding
• Neuromuscular junctions –
• Voluntary – subject to conscious control
association site of nerve and
• Cells are surrounded and bundled by connective tissue muscle
Connective Tissue Wrappings of Skeletal Muscle
• Synaptic cleft – gap between
• Endomysium – around muscle fiber nerve and muscle
• Perimysium – around a fascicle (bundle) of fibers o Nerve and muscle do
• Epimysium – covers the entire skeletal muscle not make contact
o Blends into a connective tissue attachment o Area between nerve and muscle is filled with
o Tendon – cord-like structure interstitial fluid
o Aponeuroses – sheet-like structure Transmission of Nerve Impulse to Muscle
• Fascia – on the outside of the epimysium • Neurotransmitter – chemical released by nerve upon arrival of
Sites of Muscle Attachment nerve impulse (Skeletal muscle: Acetylcholine)
• Bones • Neurotransmitter attaches to receptors on the sarcolemma
• Cartilages • Sarcolemma becomes permeable to sodium (Na+)
• Connective Tissue Coverings • Sodium rushing into the cell generates an action potential
Properties of Skeletal Muscle Activity • Once started, muscle contraction cannot be stopped
• Irritability – ability to receive and respond to a stimulus
• Contractility – ability to shorten when an adequate stimulus Sliding Filament Theory of Muscle Contraction
is received • Activation by nerve causes myosin heads
SMOOTH MUSCLES (crossbridges) to attach to binding sites
• Has no striations on the thin filament
• Spindle-shaped cells • Myosin heads then bind to the next site
• Single nucleus of the thin filament
• Involuntary – no conscious control • This continued action causes a sliding of
• Found mainly in the walls of hollow organs the myosin along the actin
CARDIAC MUSCLES • The result is that the muscle is shortened
• Has striations (contracted)
• Usually has a single nucleus Parts of a Muscle
• Joined to another muscle cell at an intercalated disc
• Origin – proximal fixed attachment
• Involuntary
• Belly – widest portion
• Found only in the heart
• Insertion – distal moveable attachment
Functions of Muscles
Muscular Forms
• Locomotion
• Maintain posture
• Stabilize joints
• Generate heat
Microscopic Anatomy of Skeletal Muscle

• Cells are multinucleated

• Nuclei are just beneath the
sarcolemma
• Myofibril
o Bundles of myofilaments
o Myofibrils are aligned to give distinct bands
▪ I band = light band
▪ A band = dark band
• Sarcomere – contractile unit of a muscle fiber
o Organization of the sarcomere • Flat muscles – parallel fibers often with an aponeurosis
▪ Thick filaments – myosin filaments o External oblique (broad flat muscle)
• Composed of the protein o Sartorius (narrow flat muscle with parallel fibers)
myosin • Pennate muscles – feather-like in the arrangement of their
• Has ATPase enzymes fascicles
▪ Thin filaments – actin filaments o Unipenniform – fibers parallel to one another but
• Composed of the protein actin not along the longitudinal axis (extensor digitorum
longus)
• Myosin filaments have heads (extensions, or cross bridges)
o Bipenniform – fibers run in two directions (rectus
• Myosin and actin overlap somewhat femoris)
• At rest, there is a bare zone that lacks actin filaments o Multipenniform – fibers run in several directions
• Sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) – for storage calcium (deltoid)
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 GROSS ANATOMY (Dr. Valera) – Introduction to Skeletal Muscles

• Fusiform – fibers run parallel to one another along the

longitudinal axis and end in a tendon
o Spindle shaped with a round, thick belly (or bellies)
and tapered ends
o Biceps brachii
• Convergent muscles – arise from a broad area and coverage to
form a single tendon
o Pectoralis major
• Quadrate muscles – have four equal sides
o Rectus abdominis between its tendinous
intersections
• Circular or sphincteral muscles – surround a body opening or
orifice, constricting when contracted
o Orbicularis oculi
• Multiheaded or multibellied muscles – have more than one
head of attachment or more than one contractile belly,
respectively
o Biceps muscles, triceps muscles – two and three
heads respectively
o Digastric and gastrocnemius – two bellies
Types of Ordinary Body Movements
• Flexion
Nomenclature of Muscles
• Extension
Naming of Skeletal Muscles • Rotation
• Direction of muscle fibers (e.g. rectus-straight) • Abduction
• Relative size of the muscle (e.g. maximus-largest) • Circumduction
• Location of the muscle (e.g. temporalis-bones) Special Movements
• Number of origins (e.g. triceps-three heads) • Dorsiflexion
• Location of the muscles origin and insertion (e.g. sterno-on • Plantar flexion
the sternum) • Inversion
• Shape of the muscle (e.g. deltoid-triangular) • Eversion
• Action of the muscle (e.g. flexor and extensor-flexes or • Supination
extends a bone)
• Pronation
Types of Muscles • Opposition
• Prime mover – muscle with the major responsibility for a Head and Neck Muscles
certain movement
• Antagonist – muscle that opposes or reverses a prime mover
• Synergist – muscle that aids a prime mover in a movement
and helps prevent rotation
• Fixator – stabilizes the origin of a prime mover
Contraction of Muscles
Reflexive contraction – certain aspects of skeletal muscle activity are
automatic (reflexive) and therefore not voluntarily controlled
• Diaphragm – controlled by reflexes stimulated by levels of
oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood
Trunk Muscles
• Myotatic reflex – results in movement after a muscle stretch
produced by tapping a tendon with a reflex hammer
Tonic contraction – even when “relaxed”, the muscles of a conscious
individual are almost always slightly contracted (muscle tone or tonus)
• Gives the muscle a certain firmness, assisting the stability of
joints and the maintenance of posture, while keeping the
muscle ready to respond to appropriate stimuli
Phasic contraction
• Isotonic contraction – muscle changes length in relationship
to the production of movement
o Concentric contraction – movement occurs as a
result of the muscle shortening Deep Trunk and Arm Muscles
o Eccentric contraction – contracting muscle
lengthens; undergoes a controlled and gradual
relaxation while continually exerting a
(diminishing) force, like playing out a rope
• Isometric contraction – muscle length remains the same – no
movement occurs, but the force (muscle tension) is increased
above tonic levels to resist gravity or other antagonistic force
o For maintaining upright posture and when muscles
act as fixators or shunt muscles

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 GROSS ANATOMY (Dr. Valera) – Introduction to Skeletal Muscles

Muscles of the Pelvis, Hip, and Thigh

Muscles of the Lower Leg

Superficial Muscles: Anterior & Posterior

Other References:
Dr. Valera’s PPT
Moore’s Clinically Oriented Anatomy

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