PHYSIOLOGY BLOCK 1

Lecture: 12 - Smooth Muscles Date: August 26, 2015

Lecturer: Irving Tan, MD Trans Team: Sigua, Sison, Solano, Sombrito

Neurotransmitters:
Topic Outline
 Acetylcholine or norepinephrine
I. Objectives  Enhance or lessen activity
II. Structural characteristics  Stimulate or inhibit contraction
III. Smooth muscle action potential  May produce opposite effects in different tissues
IV. Smooth muscle contraction  Change in membrane potential not necessary
V. Types of Smooth Muscle  Calcium required to initiate stimulus for smooth muscle
 Sources: sarcoplasmic reticulum, extracellular fluid (mostly)
VI. Latch Mechanism
VII. Skeletal vs Smooth Muscle
VIII. References IV. Smooth muscle contraction
IX. Quiz Contractile Mechanisms in Smooth Muscle
 Chemical basis
LEGEND  Contains actin and myosin filaments (but no troponin-
PPT Trans Audio Trans Book Trans tropomyosin complex)
 Contractile process is activated by Ca2+; ATP converstion to ADP
provides energy for contraction
I. Objectives
 VGCaC are more abundant than VGNaC
 Review structural characteristics  VGCaC – slow to close and slow to open channels
 Understand the stimuli in contractions (responsible for the plateaus in Figure 1.
 Steps leading to contraction  Physical basis
 Understand the latch mechanism  No striations
 Distinguish types of smooth muscle  Actin filaments bind to dense bodies
 Integrate formation on different muscle characteristics  Dense bodies serve the same role of Z discs in skeletal
through a table. muscles
 Myosin filaments are interspersed among the actin filaments
II. Structural Characteristics
 Mysoin filaments have ‘sidepolar’ cross-bridge arrangement –
 Actin and myosin present
 No striation bridges on one side hinge in one direction and those on the
other side hinge in the opposite direction
 Dense bodies
 Allows myosin to pull an actin filament in one direction on
 May be attached to cell membrane or interspersed within the
cytoplasm one side while simultaneously pulling another actin filament
 Act as anchors and cytoskeleton where actin and myosin in the opposite direction on the other side
attach to affect contraction

III. Smooth Muscle Action Potential

 Inputs influencing smooth muscle activity: (smooth muscles do
not necessarily require nervous stimulation)
 Spontaneous electrical activity in the fiber plasma
membrane
 Neurotransmitters released by autonomic neurons
 Hormones
 Locally induced changes in the chemical composition of
ECF
 Stretching of muscles
 Can be excitatory or inhibitory
 Smooth muscle action potential:

Figure 2. Smooth muscle contraction (figure from Junqueira)

Figure 1. (A) typical smooth muscle (spike potential); (B)

repetitive spike potentials elicited by slow rhythmical electrical
waves that occur spontaneously; (C) action potential with a
plateau (from Guyton and Hall)

 Figure 1 B: gradual depolarization and sudden spike

 Figure 1 C: spike then plateau

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Figure 3. Muscle contraction (see Table 1 for mechanism)

(from Guyton and Hall)

Table 1. Smooth muscle contraction vs skeletal muscle Figure 4. Regulation of smooth muscle-myosin interactions with
contraction actin by Ca2+-stimulated phosphorylation (figure from Berne and
Smooth Muscle Skeletal Muscle Levy)
Increased calcium
Increased cytosolic calcium  Myosin Phosphatase is Important in Cessation of Contraction
concentration
 Myosin phosphatase in cytosol splits Pi from the regulatory light
Calcium binds to calmodulin Calcium binds to troponin on
chain
in cytosol thin filaments
 When both myosin kinase and myosin phosphatase are slowed
Calcium-calmodulin complex Conformational change in down, the muscle remains contracted without using too much
binds to myosin light chain troponin moves tropomyosin energy (due to Latch Mechanism)
kinase (MLCK) out of blocking position
MLCK uses ATP to  NMJ of Smooth Muscle
Myosin cross bridges bind to
phosphorylate myosin cross  Autonomic nerve fibers innervate smooth muscle and generally
actin filaments
bridges branch diffusely on top of a sheet of muscle fibers
Phosphorylated cross  Most of the terminal axons have multiple varicosities with
Cross-bridge cycle produces vesicles inside carrying transmitter substances (NorE or Ach)
bridges bind to actin
tension and shortening  Ach or NorE may either be excitatory or inhibitory transmitter
filaments
Cross-bridge cycle produces substances, depending on the type of receptor protein
(excitatory or inhibitory)
tension and shortening
V. Types of Smooth Muscle
 Difference:  Single-unit (or unitary)
 No troponin/tropomysin, only actin  Synchronous activity (e.g. intestines and uterus)
 Almost 80% of original length contracted for smooth muscles;  Also called syncytial/visceral smooth muscle
only 30% for skeletal muscles  Composed of mass fibers that contract together as a single unit
 Makes use of gap junctions (desmosomes) that allow AP of
 Cycling of Myosin cross-bridges simple ion flow without AP to travel one fiber to the next
 Attachment to actin -> release from actin -> reattachment for causing muscle fibers to contract together
the next cycle  Example: walls of most viscera of the body
 Slow in smooth muscle; fast in skeletal muscle  Multi-unit
 Fraction of time the cross-bridges remain attached to the actin  Independent (e.g. large airways, large arteries, hairs)
filament is:  Composed of separate smooth muscles that operate
 Longer in smooth muscle; shorter in skeletal muscle independently of others
 Reason: cross-bridge heads have far less ATPase activity in  Each fiber is innervated by a single nerve ending
smooth muscle  Control is mainly by nerve signals
 Examples: ciliary muscle of the eye, iris muscle of the eye,
 Low Energy Requirement to Sustain Smooth Muscle Contraction
piloerector muscles
 Reason: only 1 ATP molecule required for each cycle, regardless
of duration

Figure 5. ANS fibers on smooth muscles. Top: Multi-unit, Bottom:

Single-unit

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VI. Latch Mechanism

 Continuous contraction Answers:
 Little energy consumed 1. True
 Compared to skeletal muscle: continued contraction = continuous 2. The latch mechanism prolongs the full force of
firing of action potential (uses more ATP) contraction of fibers with a greatly decreased required
amount of excitation as time progresses. This means
that little energy is used for the prolonged contraction.
3. Calmodulin
4. The extracellular fluid
5. Myosin phosphatase, splits phosphate from the
regulatory light chain
6. Autonomic neuron varicosity

Figure 6. Latch Mechanism

Latch Mechanism Facilitates Prolonged Holding of Contractions of

Smooth Muscle
 Amount of continuing excitation can usually be reduced to far less
than the initial level yet the muscle maintains its full force of
contraction
 This mechanism maintains prolonged tonic contraction in smooth
muscle for with hours with little use of energy

VII. Skeletal vs Smooth Muscle

Table 2. Comparison between skeletal and smooth muscle.

VIII. References
 Doc Tan’s Lecture
 Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology
 Harper’s Illustrated Biochemistry

IX. QUIZ
1. True or False: smooth muscle fibers contain both actin and
myosin
2. What is the importance of the latch mechanism in smooth
muscle?
3. Troponin : skeletal muscle : ________ : smooth muscle
4. The primary source of calcium ions in smooth muscle
contraction is _______.
5. Cessation of contraction is through the enzyme _______
which functions to (mechanism of action).
6. Skeletal muscle: motor end plate: smooth muscle : ______.

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