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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]
Myosins ( / ˈmaɪəsɪn, - oʊ -/ [1] [2]) are a superfamily of motor proteins best known for their roles in muscle contraction and in a wide range of other motility processes in eukaryotes. They are ATP -dependent and responsible for actin -based motility. The first myosin (M2) to be discovered was in 1864 by Wilhelm Kühne.
Adenosine diphosphate ( ADP ), also known as adenosine pyrophosphate ( APP ), is an important organic compound in metabolism and is essential to the flow of energy in living cells. ADP consists of three important structural components: a sugar backbone attached to adenine and two phosphate groups bonded to the 5 carbon atom of ribose.
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a nucleotide [2] that provides energy to drive and support many processes in living cells, such as muscle contraction, nerve impulse propagation, and chemical synthesis. Found in all known forms of life, it is often referred to as the "molecular unit of currency" for intracellular energy transfer. [3]
Sliding filament theory: A sarcomere in relaxed (above) and contracted (below) positions. 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 ...
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 ...
Actin is a family of globular multi-functional proteins that form microfilaments in the cytoskeleton, and the thin filaments in muscle fibrils. It is found in essentially all eukaryotic cells, where it may be present at a concentration of over 100 μM; its mass is roughly 42 kDa, with a diameter of 4 to 7 nm.
Physiology of muscle contraction involves several interactions. Myosin filaments act as molecular motors and by binding to actin enables filament sliding. [ 8 ] Furthermore, members of the skeletal muscle lipid droplet-associated proteins family associate with other proteins, as activator of adipose triglyceride lipase and its coactivator ...