Muscles Overview

The Muscle - Overview for Western Phys December Exam

Muscle Structures

• know generally which units are bigger and smaller than others
• terminology: G-actin, tropomyosin, troponin, myosin head, etc.
• know the definitions of each of these words so you can keep them all straight when it comes to their functions!

Muscle Contractions

• What is a sarcomere?
• What happens to the A and I bands when the sarcomere shortens?
• What is the sliding filament theory
• Know the steps of actin-myosin-ATP cycle IN DETAIL

Neuromuscular Junctions

• be able to explain the steps of excitation coupling
• be able to pinpoint where a problem will occur. Know that everything before it in the steps will still happen and everything after will be effected (see practice question about EPP for an example)

Full Muscle Contractions

• a single AP from a motor neuron makes a single muscle twitch
• what is muscle twitch summation?
• the difference between unfused and complete tetanus