Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A muscle cell, also known as a myocyte, is a mature contractile cell in the muscle of an animal. [ 1] In humans and other vertebrates there are three types: skeletal, smooth, and cardiac (cardiomyocytes). [ 2] A skeletal muscle cell is long and threadlike with many nuclei and is called a muscle fiber. [ 3]
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 ...
Anatomical terminology. [ edit on Wikidata] Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to contract. Muscle is formed during embryonic development, in a process known as myogenesis. Muscle tissue contains special contractile proteins called actin and myosin which ...
Muscular system. The muscular system is an organ system consisting of skeletal, smooth, and cardiac muscle. It permits movement of the body, maintains posture, and circulates blood throughout the body. [ 1] The muscular systems in vertebrates are controlled through the nervous system although some muscles (such as the cardiac muscle) can be ...
Smooth muscle cells. A smooth-muscle cell is a spindle-shaped myocyte with a wide middle and tapering ends, and a single nucleus. Like striated muscle, smooth muscle can tense and relax. In the relaxed state, each cell is 30–200 micrometers in length, some thousands of times shorter than a skeletal muscle cell. [ 1]
Cardiac muscle (also called heart muscle or myocardium) is one of three types of vertebrate muscle tissues, the others being skeletal muscle and smooth muscle. It is an involuntary, striated muscle that constitutes the main tissue of the wall of the heart. The cardiac muscle (myocardium) forms a thick middle layer between the outer layer of the ...
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.
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]