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A sarcomere (Greek σάρξ sarx "flesh", μέρος meros "part") is the smallest functional unit of striated muscle tissue. [1] It is the repeating unit between two Z-lines. Skeletal muscles are composed of tubular muscle cells (called muscle fibers or myofibers) which are formed during embryonic myogenesis.
The higher the recruitment the stronger the muscle contraction will be. Motor units are generally recruited in order of smallest to largest (smallest motor neurons to largest motor neurons, and thus slow to fast twitch) as contraction increases. This is known as Henneman's size principle. [4]
In vertebrates, the force of a muscle contraction is controlled by the number of activated motor units. The number of muscle fibers within each unit can vary within a particular muscle and even more from muscle to muscle: the muscles that act on the largest body masses have motor units that contain more muscle fibers, whereas smaller muscles ...
Contraction is achieved by the muscle's structural unit, the muscle fiber, and by its functional unit, the motor unit. [4] Muscle fibers are excitable cells stimulated by motor neurons. The motor unit consists of a motor neuron and the many fibers that it makes contact with. A single muscle is stimulated by many motor units.
Depiction of smooth muscle contraction. Muscle contraction is the activation of tension-generating sites within muscle cells. [1] [2] In physiology, muscle contraction does not necessarily mean muscle shortening because muscle tension can be produced without changes in muscle length, such as when holding something heavy in the same position. [1]
In that study, an increase in muscle fiber conduction velocity was observed when there was a higher level of voluntary muscle contraction, which agrees with the gradual recruitment of higher-force muscle types. [16] In Wistar rats, it was found that cell size is the crucial property in determining neuronal recruitment. [17]
Further, this differential recruitment of motor neurons occurs in instances of both increasing and decreasing contraction strength. As contraction strength is increased, the smallest motor units fire first and are also the last to stop firing as the contraction strength decreases. [2] The size principle has important functional benefits.
In mammals, triads are typically located at the A-I junction; [1] that is, the junction between the A and I bands of the sarcomere, which is the smallest unit of a muscle fiber. Triads form the anatomical basis of excitation-contraction coupling , whereby a stimulus excites the muscle and causes it to contract.