Muscle cells, commonly known as myocytes, are the cells that make up muscle tissue. However, there are some important differences in how the smooth muscle contracts, compared to other types of muscle. As the chief cell type of the heart, cardiac cells are primarily involved in the contractile function of the heart that enables the pumping of blood around the body. Muscle cell - definition of muscle cell by The Free Dictionary. Maths tutors Physics tutors Chemistry tutors Biology tutors English tutors A-Level tutors GCSE tutors IB tutors. Muscle contractions allow the body to move, squat, open doors and perform other basic functions. What Is the Main Function of a Muscle Cell. Special cells, called pacemaker cells, generate the impulses that cause cardiac muscle to contract. These muscle fibers attach to bones allowing movement in joints. This vigorous activity is powered by organelles known as mitochondria. The main function of muscle cells is to produce contractions of the muscle. The two major proteins, actin and myosin, appear in all three cell classes. A COVID-19 Prophecy: Did Nostradamus Have a Prediction About This Apocalyptic Year? Muscle cells are present in the stomach wall so that they can contract and move the food. 2. JOSE LUIS CALVO MARTIN & JOSE ENRIQUE GARCIA-MAURIÑO MUZQUIZ/iStock/GettyImages, University of Leeds' School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: Muscle Structure and Function, Brigham Young University-Idaho: Muscle Structure and Function, Canadian Institutes of Health Research:Skeletal Muscle Research - The Most Abundant Tissue in the Human Body, NCBI: Calcium regulation of muscle contraction, Encyclopedia Britannica: Muscle Contraction, PLOS ONE: Squeezing the Muscle: Compression Clothing and Muscle Metabolism during Recovery from High Intensity Exercise. Under a microscope, your skeletal muscle cells look like long tubes with stripes. “Figure 33 02 12abc” By CNX OpenStax via Commons Wikimedia 2. Muscle is a soft tissue found in most animals. Cardiac muscle cells are specialized striated muscle cells found only in the heart. Define muscle cell. It consists of narrow spindle-shaped cells with a single, centrally located nucleus. Muscle cell efficiency plays an important role in minimizing both excessive heat production as well as daily food requirements. Function of a Muscle Cell To activate a muscle, the brain sends an impulse down a nerve. Generally, an artery and at least one vein accompany each nerve that penetrates the epimysium of a skeletal muscle. The higher the contraction rate, the more ATP is required to maintain it. For example, muscle cells bring parts of the body closer together. Most experimental studies of muscle function have attempted to separate contractile and regulatory mechanisms. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of every cell in our bodies and responsible for delivering energy that the cells need to function. Muscle cells contain contractile filaments that move past each other and change the size of the cell. Smooth muscle, also called involuntary muscle, muscle that shows no cross stripes under microscopic magnification. Cardiac muscle cells or cardiomyocytes (also known as myocardiocytes or cardiac myocytes) are the muscle cells that make up the cardiac muscle (heart muscle). The U.S. Supreme Court: Who Are the Nine Justices on the Bench Today? Stimulation of actin and myosin bundles causes the proteins to slide toward one another, thereby shortening the fibers. Bodies contain three types of muscle cell: skeletal, smooth, and cardiac. All cells need energy to function, but muscle cells have unusually high energy requirements. Muscle cells are important for a huge range of functions, including movement, support, and internal functions, such as peristalsis — the movement of food along the gut. 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