Skeletal Muscle/Voluntary Muscle

-attaches to the skeleton
-shapes the body and gives you the ability to move
-most of the muscle tissue in the body
-consciously controlled
-striated

Fibers

-large, long cylindrical cells that makes up skeletal muscle
-multinucleated

Sarcolemma

-membrane enclosing a striated muscle fiber

Myofibrils

-a contractile fibril of skeletal muscle
-made up of myofilaments

Myofilaments

-composed of actin and myosin, which slide past each other during muscle activity to bring about shortening and contracting of the muscle cells

Sarcomere

-contractile units of muscle
-extends from the middle of one I band (its Z disc) to the middle of the next along the length of the myofibrils

Transverse Tubule (t tubule)

-deep invagination of the sarcolemma

Terminal Cisterns

-pairs of tranversely oriented channels that are confluent with the sarcotubules, which together with an intermediate T tubule constitute a triad of skeletal muscle

Triads

-regions where the sarcoplasmic reticulum terminal borders a t tubule on each side.

Endomysium

-delicate areolar connective tissue that encloses each muscle fiber

Perimysium

-collagenic membrane surrounding several muscle fibers

Fascicle

-bundle of fibers

Epimysium

- large number of fascicles bounded together by dense connective tissue

Deep Fascia

-coarser sheets of dense connective tissue that bind muscles into functional groups

Insertion

-a muscles more movable attachment

Origin

- a muscles immovable attachment

Neuromuscular/Myoneural Junction

- junction between an axon of a motor neuron and a muscle cell

Motor Unit

-a neuron and all the muscle fibers it stimulates

Synaptic Cleft

-small fluid-filled gap separating the neuron and muscle fiber membranes