Muscle
Muscle
Muscle (/ˈmʌsəl/; from Latin musculus, diminutive of mus "mouse") is a soft tissue found in most animals. Muscles enable animals to move and are responsible for maintaining posture, locomotion, as well as movement of internal organs, such as the contraction of the heart and the movement of food through the digestive system via peristalsis.
Etymology
The word "muscle" is derived from the Latin term musculus, which is a diminutive of mus meaning "mouse", possibly because of a similarity in shape between certain muscles and mice.
Types of Muscle
There are three types of muscle tissue recognized in vertebrates:
- Skeletal muscle or "voluntary muscle" is anchored by tendons (or by aponeuroses at a few places) to bone and is used to effect skeletal movement such as locomotion and in maintaining posture.
- Smooth muscle or "involuntary muscle" is found within the walls of organs and structures such as the esophagus, stomach, intestines, bronchi, uterus, urethra, blood vessels, and the arrector pili in the skin (in which it controls erection of body hair).
- Cardiac muscle is an "involuntary muscle" but is a specialized kind of muscle tissue found only in the heart.
Related Terms
- Myology: The study of the muscular system.
- Myocyte: A type of cell found in muscle tissue.
- Myofibril: A basic rod-like unit of a muscle cell.
- Myosin: A superfamily of motor proteins best known for their roles in muscle contraction.
- Actin: A family of globular multi-functional proteins that form microfilaments.
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Muscle
- Wikipedia's article - Muscle
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