Muscles Lab Report
Background Information
Muscles in the human body can be classified into three different types- cardiac, smooth and skeletal muscles. The skeletal muscles are the muscles that can be controlled voluntarily, in things such walking and picking things up.
The skeletal muscles are made up of bundles of muscle fibres (which are also known as myofibrils, as can be seen below). Each of the muscle fibres contain many sarcomeres, which is the most basic form of striated muscle tissue- they consist of two long proteins which slide against each other in order to make the muscles move. These two proteins are known as actin and myosin.
To control these skeletal muscles, the brain uses motor neurons (nerves that carry signals to the muscles, skin and glands). …show more content…
After this, the ATP breaks up into ADP and Pi, which releases energy and moves the myosin head into a lifts into a ready state. The calcium, which was earlier provided by the sarcoplasmic reticulum, bonds with the actin, exposing areas, which the myosin may attach to. The myosin head then bends, in turn pulling the actin filament, and moving the muscle. This cycle can then endlessly repeat itself, as long as the body has sufficient means of producing and distributing ATP to the …show more content…
It is known that a human’s muscles grow from the very moment they are born, all the way up until about 30 years old. However, once this age has been reached, the muscles will not remain this way. Instead, they will begin degrading, and, within every decade succeeding this, the person may lose between 3-5% of their muscle mass. This is known as a disease called Sarcopenia, and, while mostly affecting those inactive, can also affect active people. It is a worldwide epidemic, which, in 2010, affected numbers greater than 40 million, and is expected to rise to 55 million by 2020.
The main causes for Sarcopenia consist of deterioration of motor neurons, insufficient quantities of hormones (such as growth hormones, testosterone and insulin), and simply not taking in sufficient calories or protein in one’s diet. There is currently no cure, only treatments, which consist of exercising more, taking a drug titled Urocortin II (which stimulates the pituitary gland to produce more hormones), or partaking in hormone replacement therapy
Muscles in the human body can be classified into three different types- cardiac, smooth and skeletal muscles. The skeletal muscles are the muscles that can be controlled voluntarily, in things such walking and picking things up.
The skeletal muscles are made up of bundles of muscle fibres (which are also known as myofibrils, as can be seen below). Each of the muscle fibres contain many sarcomeres, which is the most basic form of striated muscle tissue- they consist of two long proteins which slide against each other in order to make the muscles move. These two proteins are known as actin and myosin.
To control these skeletal muscles, the brain uses motor neurons (nerves that carry signals to the muscles, skin and glands). …show more content…
After this, the ATP breaks up into ADP and Pi, which releases energy and moves the myosin head into a lifts into a ready state. The calcium, which was earlier provided by the sarcoplasmic reticulum, bonds with the actin, exposing areas, which the myosin may attach to. The myosin head then bends, in turn pulling the actin filament, and moving the muscle. This cycle can then endlessly repeat itself, as long as the body has sufficient means of producing and distributing ATP to the …show more content…
It is known that a human’s muscles grow from the very moment they are born, all the way up until about 30 years old. However, once this age has been reached, the muscles will not remain this way. Instead, they will begin degrading, and, within every decade succeeding this, the person may lose between 3-5% of their muscle mass. This is known as a disease called Sarcopenia, and, while mostly affecting those inactive, can also affect active people. It is a worldwide epidemic, which, in 2010, affected numbers greater than 40 million, and is expected to rise to 55 million by 2020.
The main causes for Sarcopenia consist of deterioration of motor neurons, insufficient quantities of hormones (such as growth hormones, testosterone and insulin), and simply not taking in sufficient calories or protein in one’s diet. There is currently no cure, only treatments, which consist of exercising more, taking a drug titled Urocortin II (which stimulates the pituitary gland to produce more hormones), or partaking in hormone replacement therapy