Lecture 12 Muscles

KK Chapter 10 (with bits from Chapter 9), H&G Chapter 10

Muscle Functions
Locomotion - Muscles cause movement by actively shortening. In skeletal muscles this results in bending of the trunk or of a joint in an appendage. Lengthening is passive, so muscles generally work in opposition. Tonus - muscles determine posture by resisting the force of gravity. Involuntary internal movements, e.g., heart beat, gut contractions. Generation of heat (endotherns) or electricity (in some fishes). Body form - muscles along with the skeleton largely determine the outline of the body

General Categories of Muscles

Skeletal (from myotomes and mesenchyme) - Axial (eyeball, trunk, tail) - Appendicular (limbs) - Branchial (pharynx, jaws) - Hypobranchial (throat, tongue)

Visceral (from splanchnic hypomere) - Heart - Smooth muscles of the skin, gut, organs

Origin of Muscles
Skeletal muscles arise from the myotomes and from the somatic (outer) layer of the hypomere via mesenchyme.

Visceral muscles arise from the splanchnic (inner) layer of the hypomere.

KK 10.20, H&G 10.7

Origin of Muscles 2
The myotomes produce the myomeres or muscle blocks comprising the axial musculature of fish. The first three (4?) of these produce the extrinsic eye muscles, so we can say that these are serially homologous with the axial musculature. The next 4 myotomes in the neck region produce the muscles of the gills and jaws (branchial muscles). Myotomes behind these produce hypobranchial as well as axial muscles. KK 10.22, H&G 10.7

Shark embryo KK 10.22, H&G 10.7

Structure of Skeletal Muscles

Connective tissue (tendons) attaches muscle to bone, surrounds the muscle (epimysium), and surrounds the fascicles of muscle fibres or cells (perimysium).

Individual fibres = muscle cells. Myofibrils are subcellular.

KK 10.2, H&G 10.2

Striated Muscle Cells

Skeletal muscle contains striated muscle cells. They are striated because myosin molecules in adjacent myofibrils are aligned. These cells are large, up to several cm long, multinucleate, and have peripheral nuclei. Their contractions are fast and voluntary.

Cardiac Muscle Cells

Cardiac muscle cells are branched and striated, with intercalated disks between the cells. Their rate of contraction is fast and their rhythm is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. The cells are inherently contractile.

KK 10.3, H&G 10.1

Smooth Muscle Cells

Smooth muscle cells are small (<1 mm), spindleshaped, involuntary (autonomic nervous system), and slow. They are found in the skin, blood vessels, urogenital system, respiratory tract, and gut.

KK 10.4, H&G 10.1

Muscle Tissue Types

Smooth Muscle Cardiac Muscle Skeletal Muscle

Types of Muscle Fibres in Skeletal Muscle

Muscle colour varies, from white to deep purply red/brown. This variation is largely caused by the amount of myoglobin, an iron-containing pigment which stores oxygen. This variation can be seen within species (e.g., trout, turkey) as well as among species. Tonic Fibres - slow contraction, unable to propogate stimulus. These provide tonus in appendages of non-mammals. Twitch Fibres - contract quickly, briefly (unless repeatedly stimulated), entirely. The stimulus is propagated along their entire length. Within the twitch fibres, there are slow-twitch fibres that contract slowly, but fatigue slowly. They have high myoglobin content (red), and perform slow or isotonic contractions in mammals. Fast-twitch fibres can be white or red, depending on whether they are required for sustained action.

Axial Musculature of Fish

Embryonic myotomes give rise directly to the axial musculature (myomeres) of fish. Myomeres are separated by myosepta, and separated into epaxial and hypaxial components by the horizontal septum. Extrinsic eye muscles are part of the axial musculature.

KK10.24, H&G 10.8

KK 10.23 Shark

The Other Skeletal Muscles

H&G 10.10, 10.11

branchial hypobranchial KK 10.29a

appendicular axial

Fish swim with side-toside undulations using the trunk musculature. The same motions could have been used for terrestrial locomotion during the transition to land locomotion.

Early tetrapods also use sideto-side undulations using the trunk musculature during locomotion as well as stepping motions of the limbs.
KK 8.25

Changes to Trunk Muscles in Tetrapods

teleost Tetrapod trunk muscles are reduced and more dorso-ventral in orientation. Epaxial muscles are dorsal in position, and hypaxial muscles are lateral and ventral. Tonus in dorsal muscles counteracts the tendency of the trunk to sag. There are muscles under the ribs, which is never the case in fish. salamander

KK 10.26 lizard

In many mammals that are good runners, movement of the trunk is important, as it is in fish. But now the movement of the trunk is dorso-ventral rather than lateral.

KK 9.42, H&G 24.3

Cetacea (whales and dolphins), descendants of terrestrial running mammals who returned to the water, swim with dorso-ventral undulations of the body.

KK 9.30, H&G 24.3

KK 10.5

The giraffe is an extreme example of a common trait of mammals that are good runners. The distal part of the limb is slender with little in the way of muscles. Movement of the distal parts of limbs is by muscles far away, attached by long tendons. Birds are similar.

Branchial and Hypobranchial Muscles

These operate the gills and jaws in fishes in fish.

KK 10.37

Facial muscles in mammals

In mammals, the branchial musculature not only operates the jaws, but also assists in communication.