Muscle Tissue

Muscle Tissue

Each muscle is made of many long, cylindrical fibres arranged in parallel arrays. These fibres are composed of numerous fine fibrils, called myofibrils. Muscle fibres contract(shorten) inresponsetostimulation, then relax (lengthen) and return to their uncontracted state in a coordinated fashion. In general muscles play an active role in all the movements of the body.

Muscles are of three types, skeletal, smooth and cardiac. Skeletal muscle tissue is closely attached to skeletal bones. In a typical muscle such as the biceps, the striated (striped) skeletal muscle fibres are bundled together in a parallel fashion. A sheath of tough connective tissue encloses several bundles of muscle fibres.

The smooth muscle fibres taper at both ends (fusiform) and do not show striations (Figure 3.7). Cell junctions hold them together and they are bundled together in a connectivetissuesheath. Thewallsofinternal organs such as the blood vessels, stomach and intestine contain this type of muscle tissue. 

Smooth muscles are ‘involuntary’ as their functions cannot be directly controlled. Unlike the smooth muscles, skeletal muscles cannot be controlled by merely thinking.

Cardiac muscle tissue is a contractile tissuepresentonlyintheheart. Celljunctions fuse the plasma membranes of cardiac muscle cells and make them stick together. Communication junctions (intercalated discs) at some fusion points allow the cells to contract as a unit, i.e., when one cell receives a signal to contract, its neighbours are also stimulated to contract.