There are different type of muscles in our body. Both biceps and quadriceps are voluntary muscles. However biceps has a muscular fiber called red fibre although quadriceps has a white one.
Okay that could seems cool. Nevertheless how can we differentiate every type of muscular fibres? The answer of this question is molecular biology and histology.
In the animation above we can see a highly detailed scheme of the different types of voluntary muscles and their characteristics.
Type I muscles are those we use in quotidian regular and repeated actions. Typically we see a major quantity of these fibers in postural muscles such as quadriceps rectus abdominis (six-pack) trapezius… Now one can understand why type I muscles cannot be fatigued. Imagine that you are walking and spontaneously your right quadriceps stop working for a while; it cannot be possible!
Type IIB muscles on the other hand are those we use in a precise moment for a short time. Ocular muscles and hand ones are usually used to exemplify white muscles.
Everything I wrote before can be explained with molecular biology and histology and now we are going to see it:
Type I slow twitch or red muscle is dense with capillaries and is rich in mitochondria and myoglobin giving the muscle tissue its characteristic red colour (there is the reason we called it red muscle). Increased density in capillaries gives more oxygen and nutrients giving a regular sustain for its activity. So that this muscle can maintain the Krebs Cycle for longs periods of time. Slow twitch fibers contract for long periods of time but with little force because Krebs Cycle is really efficient but it costs so much time. Despite the fact that muscular force is low it is sufficient to held the body in an upright (orthostatic) position.
Type IIb is anaerobic glycolytic white muscle that is least dense in mitochondria and myoglobin . In small animals (e.g. rodents) this is the major fast muscle type explaining the pale color of their flesh. Because of decreased density of capillaries and mitochondria these muscle fibers cannot use Krebs Cycle and start an anaerobic activity. Anaerobic activity is less efficient but you can obtain a great amount of energy in seconds.
What type of muscle tissue is found in the biceps and quadriceps? What type of muscle tissue is found in the heart?
March 18th, 2019 admin