Lesson 12 of 12 · 13 min
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Muscles, skeleton and joints, full lecture
Vedantu Biotonic for NEET · English · Lecture · Open on YouTube
Must-know facts
22 facts
- 1All locomotions are movements, but not all movements are locomotions.
- 2Three cell movements in humans: amoeboid (macrophages, leucocytes), ciliary (trachea, oviduct), muscular.
- 3Muscle is mesodermal and about 40–50 per cent of adult body weight.
- 4Skeletal: striated, voluntary. Visceral: smooth, involuntary. Cardiac: striated, branched, involuntary.
- 5Muscle → fascicles (held by fascia) → muscle fibres (sarcolemma, syncytium) → myofibrils → sarcomeres.
- 6Sarcoplasmic reticulum stores Ca²⁺.
- 7I band: actin (thin), light. A band: myosin (thick), dark. Z line bisects I band; M line in middle of A band; H zone is thick filament not overlapped.
- 8Sarcomere = Z line to Z line, the functional unit of contraction.
- 9Thin filament: 2 F actins (polymers of G actin) + 2 tropomyosin filaments + troponin at intervals.
- 10Meromyosin: HMM (head + short arm) and LMM (tail). Head is an ATPase with ATP binding sites and actin sites.
- 11Contraction order: motor neuron → acetylcholine at motor end plate → action potential → Ca²⁺ released → Ca²⁺ binds troponin → actin sites exposed → cross bridge (ATP energy) → actin pulled to centre of A band → sarcomere shortens.
- 12During contraction I band and H zone shorten; A band length stays the same.
- 13Relaxation: Ca²⁺ pumped back into sarcoplasmic cisternae, actin sites masked, Z lines return.
- 14Red fibres: much myoglobin, many mitochondria, aerobic. White fibres: little myoglobin, few mitochondria, much sarcoplasmic reticulum, anaerobic.
- 15206 bones: axial 80, appendicular 126 (limbs 120 + girdles 6).
- 16Skull 22 (8 cranial + 14 facial); plus 1 hyoid and 3 ossicles per ear.
- 17Vertebrae 26: cervical 7, thoracic 12, lumbar 5, sacral 1, coccygeal 1.
- 18Ribs: 12 pairs; 7 true, 3 false (vertebrochondral), 2 floating; bicephalic.
- 19Each limb 30 bones. Hand: 1+1+1+8+5+14. Leg: 1+1+1+7+5+14+patella.
- 20Coxal bone = ilium + ischium + pubis; acetabulum takes the femur. Glenoid cavity takes the humerus.
- 21Joints: fibrous (sutures, no movement), cartilaginous (vertebrae, limited), synovial (considerable).
- 22Synovial: ball and socket (shoulder), hinge (knee), pivot (atlas/axis), gliding (carpals), saddle (thumb carpal–metacarpal).
Common traps
Where marks are lost
Saying the A band shortens during contraction.
Saying troponin runs along the whole length of actin.
Writing that Ca²⁺ binds tropomyosin or myosin to start contraction.
Saying there are 11 pairs of ribs, or that floating ribs join the sternum.
Counting the hyoid and ear ossicles among the 22 skull bones.
Calling the knee a ball and socket joint.
Saying white fibres have more mitochondria than red fibres.
Confusing gout with arthritis, or tetany with myasthenia gravis.
Key terms
26 terms
- Locomotion
- A voluntary movement that changes the organism's place.
- Amoeboid movement
- Movement by pseudopodia formed by protoplasmic streaming, as in macrophages and leucocytes.
- Ciliary movement
- Coordinated beating of cilia in tubular organs such as the trachea and oviduct.
- Fascicle
- A bundle of muscle fibres inside a skeletal muscle.
- Fascia
- Collagenous connective tissue layer holding the fascicles of a muscle together.
- Sarcolemma
- The plasma membrane of a muscle fibre.
- Syncytium
- A cell mass with many nuclei in one cytoplasm, as in a muscle fibre.
- Sarcoplasmic reticulum
- The endoplasmic reticulum of a muscle fibre; stores calcium ions.
- Sarcomere
- The part of a myofibril between two Z lines; the functional unit of contraction.
- I band
- Light, isotropic band containing thin actin filaments; shortens on contraction.
- A band
- Dark, anisotropic band containing thick myosin filaments; keeps its length on contraction.
- H zone
- Central part of the thick filaments not overlapped by thin filaments.
- Tropomyosin
- Protein running in two filaments along the F actins of a thin filament.
- Troponin
- Complex protein on tropomyosin whose subunit masks actin's myosin binding sites at rest.
- Meromyosin
- The monomer of the thick filament, with a head and short arm (HMM) and a tail (LMM).
- Cross bridge
- The link formed when a myosin head binds an exposed active site on actin.
- Motor unit
- A motor neuron together with the muscle fibres it supplies.
- Neuromuscular junction
- Motor end plate: where a motor neuron meets the sarcolemma.
- Myoglobin
- Red oxygen-storing pigment of muscle, abundant in red fibres.
- Dicondylic skull
- A skull that joins the vertebral column by two occipital condyles.
- Bicephalic rib
- A rib with two articular surfaces at its dorsal end.
- Acetabulum
- Cavity in the coxal bone where the femur articulates.
- Glenoid cavity
- Depression below the acromion of the scapula where the humerus articulates.
- Synovial joint
- A joint with a fluid-filled cavity between the bones, allowing considerable movement.
- Tetany
- Rapid muscle spasms caused by low Ca²⁺ in body fluid.
- Osteoporosis
- Age-related loss of bone mass with more fractures; low oestrogen is a common cause.