Glossary
- Aerobic Respiration
- the breakdown of glucose of other nutrients in the presence of oxygen (O2) in order to form ATP for cellular work; by-products include CO2 and metabolic water
- Action Potential
- electric signal that sends an impulse from neuron to neuron or from neuron to muscle, caused by cations crossing the cell membrane as they diffuse down their concentration gradients
- ATPase
- enzyme that converts ATP to ADP and phosphate (Pi), also called ATP hydrolysis
- Creatine Phosphate
- a molecule that can store energy in its phosphate bonds; excess ATP transfers its energy to creatine, producing ADP and creatine phosphate, which can be stored until needed by ADP again to form ATP for work in the cell
- Glycolysis
- a multi-step, anaerobic process that breaks down glucose to produce ATP in the cytoplasm; without oxygen present this only makes a net of two (2) ATP molecules
- Lactic Acid
- formed when oxygen is not available from pyruvate molecules (during anaerobic glycolysis)
- Muscle
- The skeletal muscle fiber that is part of the neuromuscular junction
- Neuromuscular Junction
- (myoneural junction) the junction between a somatic motor neuron and a skeletal muscle fiber
- Neuron
- The motor neuron that is part of the neuromuscular junction
- Power Stroke
- Once connected to the actin molecule, the myosin head moves toward the M-line, pulling the actin along with it, shortening the sarcomere by bringing the thin filaments closer together
- Pyruvic Acid
- product of the breakdown of one glucose molecule, each resulting pyruvate is a 3-carbon sugar
- Somatic Motor Neuron
- neurons that signal skeletal muscle fibers to produce movement/locomotion of the body
- Synaptic End Bulbs
- bulbous structure at the end of neuron axons, which synapse with the next cell (either neuron or muscle)
Grant and Other Information
Except where otherwise noted, this work by The Community College Consortium for Bioscience Credentials is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Text from BioBook licensed under CC BY NC SA and Boundless Biology Open Textbook licensed under CC BY SA.
Other text from OpenStaxCollege licensed under CC BY 3.0. Modified by Alice Rudolph, M.A. and Andrea Doub, M.S. for c3bc.
Instructional Design by Courtney A. Harrington, Ph.D., Helen Dollyhite, M.A. and Caroline Smith, M.A. for c3bc.
Media by Brittany Clark, Jordan Campbell, John Reece, Jose DeCastro and Antonio Davis for c3bc.
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