Abstract
Skeletal muscle is made up of long fibres, terminated at each end by tendinous material attached to the bone. These fibres are formed from a syncitium of cells whose walls fuse during development, and hence have many nuclei spread throughout their length. Groups of individual muscle fibres are gathered together into bundles called fascicles which are surrounded by a connective tissue sheath (Figure 2.1). The internal structure of the muscle fibre is quite complex. The main elements visible under the light microscope are the myofibrils. These run longitudinally throughout the fibre and constitute the contractile machinery of the muscle. Each myofibril is traversed by striations. Usually, the myofibrils are aligned so that the striations appear to be continuous right across the muscle fibre.
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References and Further Reading
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© 1987 John C. Rothwell
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Rothwell, J.C. (1987). Mechanical Properties of Muscles. In: Control of Human Voluntary Movement. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7688-0_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-7688-0_2
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