Muscle Tissue
- Each muscle is made of many long, cylindrical fibres arranged in parallel arrays.
- Fibres are composed of numerous fine fibrils, called
- Muscles are of three types
- Skeletal
- Smooth
- Cardiac
Skeletal muscle
- Skeletal muscle tissue is closely attached to skeletal bones.
- A sheath of tough connective tissue encloses several bundles of muscle fibres.
- Skeletal muscle fibres are bundled together in a parallel fashion in biceps.
Smooth muscle
- The smooth muscle fibres taper at both ends (fusiform) and do not show striations.
- The wall of internal organs such as the blood vessels, stomach contains smooth muscle tissue.
- Smooth muscles are ‘involuntary’ as their functioning cannot be directly controlled.
Cardiac muscle
- Cardiac muscle tissue is a contractile tissue present only in the heart.
- Cell junctions fuse the plasma membranes of cardiac muscle cells and make them stick together.
Fig. Different types of muscles
