Question

Short / Long answer type questions.
List the differences between a striated, smooth, and cardiac muscle fibre.

Answer 1

a) Striated muscle - These muscle fibres occur in bundles and normally attached to the skeleton. The cytoplasm of each fibre has a large number of myofibrils which are tightly packed. Each myofibrils shows dark and light band of strips. Mainly found in limbs, body walls and tongue and are voluntary in nature.

b) Smooth muscle - These muscle fibres taper at both ends and do not show striation. It is controlled by autonomic nervous system and are involuntary in nature. Mainly found in the wall of internal organs.

c) Cardiac muscles - The cardiac muscles are found in the wall of the heart. These fibres show characteristics of both unstriped and striped muscle fibres. They are uninucleate and each fibre is a long and cylindrical structure which lacks a definite sarcolemma.