Download Name______________________________ Muscle Tissue

Name______________________________
Muscle Tissue
Epithelia cover surfaces and line passageways; connective tissues support weight
and interconnect parts of the body. Together these tissues provide a strong
interwoven framework within which the organs of the body can function. Several
vital functions involve movement of one kind or another. For example: movement
of materials along the digestive tract, movement of blood around the cardiovascular
system, or movement of the body from one place to another. Movement is produced
by muscle tissue, which is specialized for contraction.
There are 3 types of muscle tissue:
1. Skeletal – forms large muscles necessary for gross body movement
2. Cardiac Muscle – found only in the heart and responsible for the movement of
blood.
3. Smooth Muscle – found in a variety of visceral organs and other locations where it
provides elasticity, contractility and support
1. Muscle tissue is specialized to _______________.
Skeletal Muscle
2. These muscles form the ________________ of the body, and are controlled
__________________ or consciously.
3. When they contract they pull on ______________ or _______________ and cause gross
body movements or facial expressions.
4. Describe the cells of skeletal muscle ___________________________________________________
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The cytoskeleton of skeletal muscle contains actin and myosin filaments organized
into repeating groups. This causes a striped appearance called _____________________. In
order to make the organ called a skeletal muscle, adjacent skeletal muscle tissue
fibers are tied together by collagen and elastic fibers that blend into the attached
tendon.
Cardiac Muscle
5. Like skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle has _________________ or stripes.
6. Explain the “movement” caused by the contraction of cardiac muscle.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
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7. Look at the picture of Cardiac Muscle on page 85. What are two differences
between the cells of skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle? ____________________ &
_______________________.
Cardiac muscle cells form extensive connections with each other. They form a
branching network of interconnected cardiac muscle cells. The connections occur at
specialized regions called intercalated discs. At each intercalated disc, the
membranes are locked together by desmosomes, and gap junctions. Ion movement
through gap junctions helps coordinate the contractions of cardiac muscle.
8. What are intercalated disks and what is their function in cardiac muscle tissue?
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*hint: if you don’t know what a gap junction is, look it up in you cell outline!
9. Cardiac Muscle is controlled _______________________________.
Smooth Muscle
The actin and myosin filaments in smooth muscle cells are organized differently
from those in skeletal and cardiac muscle, so it does not have striations. The
contraction of smooth muscle tissue is controlled by the nervous system, but the
contractile activity is not under voluntary control.
10. Smooth muscle is called smooth muscle because it has no _________________.
11. What are the cells of smooth muscle like?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
12. Name 5 organs that are made up of smooth muscle. _____________, ______________,
_________________, ________________, ___________________
13. All of these organs are ____________________.
14. The contraction of smooth muscle allows the cavity of an organ to become
smaller, or elongate thus substances are_______________________________________________.
Nervous Tissue
The cells of nervous tissue are neurons . This tissue is specialized for conducting
electrical impulses from one region of the body to another. A typical nerve cell has a
cell body, which holds the nucleus. Projecting from the cell body are many branched
called dendrites and one long axon. The dendrites receive the information, usually
from other neurons, and the axon conducts that information to other cells.
15.The two major functional characteristics of neural tissue are ________________ and
_______________________.
Microscope Observations
Type of Cell
Appearance