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Smooth muscle differs from skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle in terms of structure, function, regulation of contraction, and excitation-contraction coupling. However, smooth muscle tissue tends to demonstrate greater elasticity and function within a larger length-tension curve than striated muscle. This ability to stretch and still maintain ...
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]
The smooth muscle of the blood vessels reacts to the stretching of the muscle by opening ion channels, which cause the muscle to depolarize, leading to muscle contraction. This significantly reduces the volume of blood able to pass through the lumen, which reduces blood flow through the blood vessel.
Smooth muscle is a type of non-striated muscle, and, unlike striated muscle, contraction of smooth muscle is not under conscious control. Smooth muscle may contract spontaneously or rhythmically and be induced by a number of physiochemical agents (hormones, drugs, neurotransmitters). Smooth muscle is found within the walls of various organs and ...
All movements, e.g. touching your nose, require motor neurons to fire action potentials that results in contraction of muscles. In humans, ~150,000 motor neurons control the contraction of ~600 muscles. To produce movements, a subset of 600 muscles must contract in a temporally precise pattern to produce the right force at the right time. [6]
This action potential is transmitted to other smooth muscle cells via gap junctions, creating a peristaltic wave. The specific mechanism for the contraction of smooth muscle in the GI tract depends upon IP3R calcium release channels in the muscle. [4] Calcium release from IP3 sensitive calcium stores activates calcium dependent chloride ...
The sliding filament theory explains the mechanism of muscle contraction based on muscle proteins that slide past each other to generate movement. [1] According to the sliding filament theory, the myosin ( thick filaments ) of muscle fibers slide past the actin ( thin filaments ) during muscle contraction, while the two groups of filaments ...
Muscles which possess more motor units (and thus have greater individual motor neuron innervation) are able to control force output more finely. Motor units are organized slightly differently in invertebrates : each muscle has few motor units (typically less than 10), and each muscle fiber is innervated by multiple neurons, including excitatory ...