The Structure of Skeletal Muscle.

... The Structure of Skeletal Muscle Skeletal muscles are all muscles that are attached to the skeleton such as the biceps and the hamstring. Within each muscle cell (also known as a muscle fibre) are structures called myofibrils as shown in the picture below: (Ref. The picture above was found at www.google.com) Myofibrils are made up of tiny units called sarcomeres. Sarcomeres are the smallest structures in a muscle that can contract; they are long filament-like structures, arranged in series - end to end - that run lengthways in the myofibril. Within the sarcomeres are two types of protein filaments that are actin and myosin - running lengthways, parallel to each other. The myosin filaments have 'cross-bridges' across to the actin filaments, which during contraction allow them to bond with the actin filaments. The source of energy for this bonding is the molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP). During the bonding, energy is released by the

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