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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 skeletal muscle pump. The skeletal muscle pump or musculovenous pump is a collection of skeletal muscles that aid the heart in the circulation of blood. It is especially important in increasing venous return to the heart, [ 1] but may also play a role in arterial blood flow .
Skeletal muscle (commonly referred to as muscle) is one of the three types of vertebrate muscle tissue, the other being cardiac muscle and smooth muscle. They are part of the voluntary muscular system [ 1] and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. [ 2][ 3] The skeletal muscle cells are much longer than in the other types of ...
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. Muscle fibers contain numerous ...
A fasciculation, or muscle twitch, is a spontaneous, involuntary muscle contraction and relaxation, involving fine muscle fibers. [ 1] They are common, with as many as 70% of people experiencing them. [ 1] They can be benign, or associated with more serious conditions. [ 1] When no cause or pathology is identified, they are diagnosed as benign ...
Neuromuscular junction. A neuromuscular junction (or myoneural junction) is a chemical synapse between a motor neuron and a muscle fiber. [ 1] It allows the motor neuron to transmit a signal to the muscle fiber, causing muscle contraction . Muscles require innervation to function—and even just to maintain muscle tone, avoiding atrophy.
A tetanic contraction (also called tetanized state, tetanus, or physiologic tetanus, the latter to differentiate from the disease called tetanus) is a sustained muscle contraction [2] evoked when the motor nerve that innervates a skeletal muscle emits action potentials at a very high rate. [3] [4] During this state, a motor unit has been ...
Motor unit. In biology, a motor unit is made up of a motor neuron and all of the skeletal muscle fibers innervated by the neuron's axon terminals, including the neuromuscular junctions between the neuron and the fibres. [1] Groups of motor units often work together as a motor pool to coordinate the contractions of a single muscle.