Muscle Tissue

Functions of muscle tissue include: motion production, maintaining posture, and generating heat.

Properties of Muscle Tissue:

• Excitability-it can respond to stimuli (i.e. nerve impulses).
• Contractility-muscle fibers are able to shorten in length.
• Extensibility- muscles stretch when they are pulled.
• Elasticity- a muscle can return to its original shape after it has been extended or contracted.

There are 3 types of muscle tissue: Skeletal, Cardiac, and Smooth.

Muscle Tissue Type	Photo	Schematic
Skeletal Muscle Voluntary-can be consciously controlled. Striated- has alternating light and dark bands.
Cardiac Muscle Involuntary-is not consciously controlled. Intercalated discs-help pass electrical current along to synchronize contractions. Has striations. Only cell type that has branching.
Smooth Muscle Involuntary. Not striated. (no light/dark bands) Found in the walls of the digestive tract.

 * Note- the tissue photos and schematics on this page were taken from Delta College Biology Professsor Mark Robertson's histology webpage. http://www.delta.edu/mgrobert/Histology.html