The muscular system refers to the human biological system that makes movement possible. In vertebrates, the nervous system controls the muscular system. However, muscles such as the cardiac muscles are entirely autonomous. The term muscle refers to a contractile tissue that develops from the embryonic germ cells’ mesodermal layer. The muscle’s role is to make movement possible and produce force.
In this regard, motion refers to either movement in the internal organs or locomotion. A majority of the muscle contraction occurs in the absence of conscious thought. Moreover, muscle contraction is necessary for survival. For instance, peristalsis allows food to move in the digestive system (Fitzgerald, 1996). Body movement uses voluntary muscle contraction, which can be manipulated finely. This includes the finger or triceps movement.
Muscles are made up of muscle fibres or cells. The skeletal muscles possess a detached organization as seen in the biceps brachii. Tendons connect the skeletal muscles. In a human body, there are approximately six hundred and forty skeletal muscles. The body has three different kinds of muscles; skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscles. Irrespective of the fact that the three kinds of muscles are different in many aspects, all of them utilize myosin and actin to allow relaxation and contraction.
In the skeletal muscles, nervous impulses that are present in every cell permit contraction. Acetylcholine is released at the neuromuscular junction, which brings about action potentials in the cell membrane. Acetylcholine is a vital neurotransmitter during muscle contraction. Its binding stimulates the contraction of skeletal muscles. A majority of the energy consumption in the body is as a result of muscular activity (Goldstein, 2010). In the muscles, energy is stored in the form of glycogen, which can be transformed into glucose when more energy is obligatory. This paper aims at discussing how the skeletal muscles acquire the energy for contracting.
When muscles are contracting, ATP is useful as an instantaneous energy source. Irrespective of the fact that the skeletal muscle fiber has only sufficient ATP to enable several twitches, the ATP store is usually restocked as required. A phosphate with high levels of energy can be derived from three sources. This ensures that the ATP store is sufficient. It is worth pointing out that cellular respiration takes place in the fibres’ mitochondria.
