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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page research paper that discusses this aspect of the muscular system. A "sarcomere" is the "smallest functional unit of a muscle," which is composed "mainly of the contractile proteins, actin and myosin," with a single sarcomere extending from z-band to the next ("Sarcomere"). The following discussion examines sarcomere contraction, the importance of good nutrition and respiration to contraction and, specifically, what occurs at a synapse when a neuron stimulates a muscle cell. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
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5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khsarcom.rtf
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importance of good nutrition and respiration to contraction and, specifically, what occurs at a synapse when a neuron stimulates a muscle cell. Contraction of a sarcomere Striated muscles are
the muscle group that is associated with movement in animals. The sarcomere is the "repeating unit of striated muscle" (Luther). Therefore, in order to understand how muscles contract, it
is necessary to comprehend the "structure of function of a single sarcomere" (Luther). When a sarcomere contracts, "actin filaments slide past myosin filaments towards the center of the sarcomere," which
is due to the "cyclic interactions of myosin crossbridges on actin filaments" (Luther). The actin filaments are appear as "regular lattices" within the sarcomere (Luther). There are 2 bands of
these filaments. The M-band consists of "myosin filaments in a hexagonal lattice," while the Z-band has "actin filaments in a tetragonal lattice" (Luther). One
muscle is made up of thousands of muscle fibers and each muscle fiber is composed smaller fibers, which, in turn, is composed of "longitudinal contraction units," sarcomere, which are separated
by elastic zones ("General Anatomy"). The sarcomeres are composed of "thick (myosin molecule) filaments," which are surrounded by "thin (actin molecule) filaments" ("General Anatomy"). The connections between the thin actin
filaments and the thick myosin filaments allow the actin filaments to be drawn inwards so that the myosin filaments shorten the whole contraction unit, i.e., the sarcomere ("General Anatomy"). It
is because this phenomenon occurs within every sarcomere simultaneously that the whole muscle contracts ("General Anatomy"). As indicated above, myosin is a complex molecule filament that can be perceived
as having "arms (crossbridging sites)," which are utilized in connecting to the "actin binding site ("General Anatomy"). When this occurs, myosin acts in a manner similar to the way someone
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