Week 6 Lab Vocab.
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19 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Somatic Nervous System | That division of the nervous system which innervates skeletal muscle. |
| Motor Unit | All of the muscle fibers innervated by a single motor neuron. |
| Myofibers | Elongated, cylinder shaped cells that are also called muscle fibers. |
| Myofilaments | The contractile filaments that are arranged in such a way as to produce alternating light and dark bands within the muscle fiber. |
| Autonomic Nervous System | That division of the nervous system which innervates smooth muscle, heart, and glands. |
| Intercalated Discs | The unique junctions between cardiac muscle fibers. Provides continuity in transmission of excitation which allows the heart to pump blood into the arteries in a coordinated manner. |
| Innervation | The pattern of distribution of nerve fibers in a tissue organ. |
| Tetanus | A brief, sustained contraction resulting from high frequency stimulation. |
| Contracture | A progressive failure of muscle to regain its original length following prolonged stimulation. |
| Myogenic | Originating within the muscle |
| Refractory Period | A period of time following stimulation when a second stimulus does not produce a result. |
| Neurotransmitters | Chemicals, released at nerve endings, responsible for producing the effects of nerve stimulation (for example Acetylcholine and Norepinephrine) |
| Muscle Twitch | The response of a muscle to a single, brief threshold stimulus. |
| Threshold Stimulus | The stimulus strength at which muscle contraction occurs. |
| Motor Unit Stimulation | Multiple motor units are involved in a contraction, producing a smooth continuous response. |
| Recruitment | This involves the number of motor units involved in a contraction. More and more motor units are recruited or involved in stronger contractions. |
| Temporal Summation | This occurs when stimuli are delivered so frequently that a muscle does not completely relax after first stimulus and second contraction is stronger than first. |
| Isotonic Contraction | A muscle changes in length, but remains constant during the contractile period. |
| Isometric Contraction | During this type of muscle contraction, the tension increases, but the muscle does not change in length. |
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