Muscle Basics
The ability of a muscle to respond to a stimulus.
What is excitability?
This connective tissue wraps the whole muscle.
What is epimysium?
These fibers are fast-contracting and fatigue quickly.
What are fast twitch fibers?
The smallest functional unit combining a neuron and muscle fibers.
What is a motor unit?
The amount of blood flowing through a vessel per minute.
What is blood flow?
The ability of muscle tissue to return to its original length after being stretched.
What is elasticity?
These cylindrical structures are responsible for contraction within muscle cells.
What are myofibrils?
This muscle type is involuntary and found in hollow organs.
What is smooth muscle?
These sensory receptors detect pressure and stretch in blood vessels.
What are baroreceptors?
The main variable that affects resistance and controls blood flow.
What is vessel diameter?
he property that allows muscles to be stretched beyond resting length.
What is extensibility?
The smallest contractile unit of a muscle fiber.
What is a sarcomere?
This muscle type has striations and is under voluntary control.
What is skeletal muscle?
These arcs allow for automatic and fast motor responses.
What are reflex arcs?
Widening of veins, which allows more blood to pool.
What is venodilation?
The ability of muscle to shorten forcibly when stimulated.
What is contractility?
These discs mark the boundaries of a sarcomere.
What are Z discs?
A muscle with multiple fiber types in one muscle (seen in mammals).
What is heterogeneous muscle composition?
Sensory neurons that detect chemical changes in blood (e.g. O₂, CO₂).
What are chemoreceptors?
The tone or baseline level of vessel constriction.
What is vasomotor tone?
This enzyme breaks down ACh at the neuromuscular junction.
What is acetylcholinesterase?
This line in the sarcomere links myosin filaments together.
What is the M line?
These fibers contract slowly but are highly resistant to fatigue.
What are slow twitch fibers?
is brain center controls blood pressure and heart rate via autonomic signals.
What is the cardiovascular center of the medulla?
Reflex that adjusts blood pressure in response to arterial pressure changes.
What is the baroreceptor reflex?