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Smooth Muscle Contraction

Smooth Muscle Contraction

Smooth muscle contraction is a complex process vital for various bodily functions, from maintaining blood vessel tension to facilitating the movement of food through the digestive tract. Unlike striated muscles, smooth muscle contraction begins more slowly and lasts longer.
The onset of contraction is triggered by an increase in calcium ions within the sarcoplasm, similar to the process in striated muscle. However, smooth muscles have a relatively smaller reservoir of the sarcoplasmic...

Structure and Organization of Smooth Muscles

Structure and Organization of Smooth Muscles

Smooth muscle tissue is a type of muscle tissue that can be found lining various vital organs in the human body, including the lungs, blood vessels, digestive tract, and respiratory tract. This type of tissue is responsible for regulating the movements of these organs, playing crucial roles in the functioning of various systems, including the vascular, digestive, respiratory, and urinary systems.
Structure of smooth muscle cell
Smooth muscle cells are spindle-shaped with tapering ends and a...

Motor Unit Stimulation

Motor Unit Stimulation

When the neuron of a motor unit fires an action potential, it triggers a series of events, leading to a twitch contraction in the muscle fibers. The process of excitation-contraction coupling is crucial in relaying the action potential to the muscle fibers.
The latent period of contraction marks the onset of excitation-contraction coupling, when the action potential propagates across the sarcolemma, preparing the muscle fibers for contraction. As the fibers enter the contraction phase, the...

Actin and Myosin in Muscle Contraction

Actin and Myosin in Muscle Contraction

Actin and myosin are contractile proteins that form the sarcomere found in skeletal muscle tissues for regulating muscle contraction. Actin, a globular contractile protein, interacts with myosin for muscle contraction. The skeletal tissue appears striped or striated under a microscope due to the repeated arrangement of contractile proteins actin and myosin along the length of myofibrils. Dark A bands and light I bands repeat along myofibrils, and the alignment of myofibrils in the cell causes...

Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Skeletal Muscles

Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Skeletal Muscles

Excitation-contraction coupling is a series of events that occur between generating an action potential and initiating a muscle contraction. It occurs at the triad, a structure found in skeletal muscle fibers that comprise a T-tubule and terminal cisternae of the sarcoplasmic reticulum on each side. These triads are visible in longitudinally sectioned muscle fibers. They are typically located at the A-I junction — the junction between the A and I bands of the sarcomere.
When an action potential...

Functions of Smooth Muscles

Functions of Smooth Muscles

Smooth muscles are an important type of muscle tissue that plays a vital role in the involuntary movements of internal organs. For example, they help regulate the movement of food through the gut and the flow of blood through the circulatory system.
Function of visceral smooth muscles
Visceral smooth muscle is found in the walls of all hollow organs, except the heart, and is a key player in the involuntary movements that drive the functioning of these internal organs. This tissue is arranged in...

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Bladder Smooth Muscle Strip Contractility as a Method to Evaluate Lower Urinary Tract Pharmacology

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On a phenomenological model for active smooth muscle contraction.

André Schmitz¹, Markus Böl

¹Institute of Solid Mechanics, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technische Universität Carolo-Wilhelmina, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany.

Journal of Biomechanics

|June 3, 2011

Summary

This study introduces a new 3D model for smooth muscle activation, incorporating passive tissue properties and active calcium-driven contraction. The model accounts for cell and collagen dispersion, validated experimentally and used for numerical simulations.

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Area of Science:

Biomechanics
Biomedical Engineering
Computational Mechanics

Background:

Smooth muscle activation is complex, involving passive tissue properties and active cellular responses.
Existing models may not fully capture the three-dimensional nature and cellular dispersions inherent in smooth muscle tissue.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a novel three-dimensional phenomenological model for smooth muscle activation.
To incorporate passive (elastin, collagen) and active (calcium-driven) energy components.
To account for the experimentally measured dispersions of smooth muscle cells and collagen orientations.

Main Methods:

Proposed a strain energy function combining passive and active contributions.
Integrated elastin, collagen, and calcium-driven energy terms.
Incorporated dispersions of cellular and collagen orientations.
Implemented the model within the finite element method framework.

Main Results:

The model successfully describes smooth muscle activation in three dimensions.
Experimental validation confirmed the model's predictive capabilities.
The model allows for direct input of measured dispersions, enhancing its applicability.

Conclusions:

The developed model provides a comprehensive framework for simulating smooth muscle behavior.
It offers a valuable tool for understanding tissue mechanics and for three-dimensional numerical studies.
The inclusion of dispersion parameters improves the model's accuracy and relevance to experimental observations.