ANAT2511 Muscle Tissue
ANAT2511 Fundamentals of Anatomy This histology practical support page content is not part of the histology practical class and provides only background information for student self-directed learning purposes. Histology lecturer notice. |
General Objective
To know the histological structure and ultrastructure of the three main types of muscle and how their structure relates to function.
- Reading: Human Anatomy, Marieb et al., 6th ed., pages 240‐260
- Virtual Slides: Histology of Muscle
Skeletal Muscle
There are 3 types of muscle, 2 striated (skeletal, cardiac) and 1 non-striated (smooth).
Skeletal muscle connects with bones, cartilages, ligaments, and skin. The connection can be either directly, or through fibrous structures (tendons or aponeuroses). Where muscle is attached to bone or cartilage, the fibers end in blunt extremities upon the periosteum or perichondrium, and do not come into direct relation with the osseous or cartilaginous tissue.
The contractile units (sarcomeres) are organised in series within the muscle fibre, giving the muscle a "striated" appearance. In series each shorten a small distance (microns) that add together to shorten the whole muscle fibre (centimetres).
Cardiac Muscle
Electron micrograph of heart (cardiac) muscle. Cardiac muscle is also striated muscle.
Smooth Muscle
The gastrointestinal tract and uterus have muscular walls formed by smooth muscle, called smooth because it does not have a striated appearance. There is also varying amounts of smooth muscle in many other tissues and organs, for example around the walls of blood vessels.
Course Links
- Histology Glossary: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | ANAT2241 Support | Histology | Histology Stains | Embryology Glossary
Virtual slides
- Pages require student zpass to access.
ANAT2511 | Virtual Microscopy, Cells and Types of Tissue | Selected Basic Tissues | Histology of Bone and Joints | Histology of Muscle | Histology of Nervous Tissue | Integumentary System | Circulatory System Histology | Respiratory System Histology | GIT Histology | Urinary System Histology
Practical support
- Pages can be accessed from any internet connected computer.
ANAT2511: Practical 1 Introduction to Histology | Practical 3 Basic Tissues | Practical 5 Bones and Joints | Practical 7 Muscle Tissue | Practical 9 Nervous Tissue | Practical 11 Integumentary (Skin) System | Practical 13 Circulatory System | Practical 15 Respiratory System | Practical 17 Gastro‐intestinal Tract, Liver and Gallbladder | Practical 19 Urinary System | Histology Drawings