Glossary

Cardiac muscle fibers
Make up striated muscle found in the heart; joined to one another at intercalated discs and under the regulation of pacemaker cells, which contract as one unit to pump blood through the circulatory system. Cardiac muscle is under involuntary control.
Compliance
Ability to extend (stretch)Contractibility
Ability to shorten (contract) forcibly
Depolarization
Changing of charges across a membrane
Elasticity
Ability for a muscle to rebound to its original size after stretching
Excitability
Ability to undergo neural stimulation
Gap Junction
Forms channels between adjacent cardiac muscle fibers that allow the depolarizing current produced by cations to flow from one cardiac muscle cell to the next
Sarcolemma
The cell/plasma membrane of muscle fibers
Skeletal muscle fibers
Make up striated, multinucleated muscle that requires signaling from the nervous system to trigger contraction; most skeletal muscles are referred to as voluntary muscles that move bones and produce movement
Smooth muscle fibers
Make up nonstriated, mononucleated muscle in the skin that is associated with hair follicles; assists in moving materials in the walls of internal organs, blood vessels, and internal passageways 

 

 

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Other text from OpenStaxCollege licensed under CC BY 3.0. Modified by Alice Rudolph, M.A. and Andrea Doub, M.S. for c3bc.
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