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Skeletal muscle (striated)

   

Workbook tasks

Slide 18: Skeletal muscle (Striated)

H/E

A longitudinal and cross section of skeletal muscle. See also Slide 33, a section through the tip of the tongue in which the skeletal muscle is sectioned longitudinally, obliquely and crosswise. To view the striations of skeletal muscle in an H/E specimen, the condenser of the microscope must be turned down to obtain as much contrast as possible. Remember to turn the condenser back to its original position after you have finished.

Identify microscopically:

  1. Longitudinal section
    • Skeletal muscle fibers
    • Nuclei of the skeletal muscle fibers and connective tissue
    • Cross striations
    • Connective tissue
  2. Cross section
    • Skeletal muscle fibers arranged in bundles
    • Size, shape and diameter of the muscle bundles
    • Nuclei of the skeletal muscle fibers
    • Myofibrils
    • Connective tissue

Draw and annotate:

A longitudinal AND cross section of skeletal muscle.

Reflection:

  1. What is characteristic of skeletal muscle?
  2. What is characteristic of the nuclei of skeletal muscle and how do they differ from those of smooth muscle?
  3. How does skeletal muscle differ in longitudinal and cross section from smooth muscle?
  4. What are skeletal muscle fibre bundles called?
  5. Can all the subdivisions of muscle connective tissue be seen on this specimen? What is the connective tissue is called?
 

Slides

Muybridge race horse

Longitudinal and cross section of skeletal muscle

Sarcomere

Molecular structure of the vertebrate striated muscle sarcomere
Geometrical relationship between myosin and actin


back © januarie 2008 september 2012 marius loots