Nerve Muscle Physiology

Easy-peasy

100

I'm the communication highway, where impulses travel every day.

Nervous system

200

I’m a tiny gap between a nerve and a muscle, where signals are passed without hustle.

Neuromuscular junction

300

I conduct electrical impulses in the body, often faster than you think

Nerve fiber

400

I’m a long structure in a nerve cell, transmitting signals that serve you well

Axon

500

I carry electrical impulses from one neuron to the next, but I’m not a wire, just a cell

Synapse

Okay-dokey

100

I’m a structure where a nerve impulse jumps, speeding things up through my many bumps

Node of Ranvier

200

My charge is negative when resting, but I reverse when firing

Resting potential

300

I’m the electrical pulse that travels down the neuron, causing a muscle to move

Action potential

400

I’m part of the muscle fiber that shortens to make contraction happen

Sarcomere

500

I'm responsible for causing the depolarization needed for a signal to jump across the nerve cell

Sodium ion

Think tank

100

I’m a type of muscle contraction where the muscle produces force but does not change length

Isometric contraction

200

I am a protein that binds calcium, enabling muscle contraction by altering the shape of actin and myosin

Troponin

300

When I enter the muscle fiber, I unlock the doors to contraction, making the actin and myosin slide

Calcium ions

400

I’m an ion channel that is sensitive to voltage and critical for action potential propagation

Voltage-gated sodium channel

500

I assist in the propagation of the action potential by releasing acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction

Synaptic vesicle

Crakerjack

100

I help restore the balance of ions across the membrane, critical for the resting membrane potential after an action potential

Sodium-potassium pump

200

I act as a buffer in muscle contraction, preventing excessive acidity during strenuous activity

Bicarbonate

300

I’m responsible for repolarizing the muscle cell membrane after an action potential, restoring my negative charge

Potassium ions

400

I’m the neurotransmitter that, when released at the neuromuscular junction, directly triggers muscle contraction

Acetylcholine

500

I’m a type of muscle fiber, slower to contract but more resistant to fatigue.

Type I muscle fiber (slow-twitch)

Maestro

100

I’m a protein filament that slides to shorten the sarcomere, causing muscle contraction

Actin

200

I’m a protein that forms cross-bridges with actin to generate muscle contraction

Myosin

300

I’m the electrical change that happens in the muscle cell membrane, leading to a muscle contraction

Action potential

400

I'm the area where the nerve branch enters into the muscle

Motor point

500

I’m the physiological process where a single nerve impulse triggers the contraction of a muscle fiber.

Excitation-contraction coupling