PRE-102 Physiology
Smooth Muscle
30.03.2023
Asst Prof Siğnem EYUBOĞLU
Faculty of Medicine
Department of Physiology
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CONTRACTION OF SMOOTH MUSCLE
• Smooth muscle is composed of small fibers that are usually 1 to 5 micrometers in diameter
and only 20 to 500 micrometers in length.
• Many of the same principles of contraction apply to smooth muscle as to skeletal muscle.
Most important, essentially the same attractive forces between myosin and actin filaments
cause contraction in smooth muscle as in skeletal muscle, but the internal physical
arrangement of smooth muscle fibers is different
Skeletal Muscle
Smooth Muscle
TYPES OF SMOOTH MUSCLE
• The smooth muscle of each organ is distinctive from that of most
other organs in several ways:
(1) physical dimensions;
(2) organization into bundles or sheets;
(3) response to different types of stimuli;
(4) characteristics of innervation;
(5) function
• Smooth muscle can
generally be divided into
two major types: multi-unit
smooth muscle and unitary
(or single-unit) smooth
muscle.
Smooth Muscle Characteristics
Smooth Muscle: Organisation
Contractile Mechanism in Smooth Muscle
Physical Basis for Smooth Muscle Contraction
• Dense bodies
• Their attachment to the cell membrane
• Transmission of contraction from one cell
to the next
• Myosin filaments are interspersed among
the actin filaments
• Most of the myosin filaments have
“sidepolar” cross-bridges
• Value of this organisation: it can contract
as much as 80% of length
TYPES OF SMOOTH MUSCLE
(1) Single-unit (Unitary) smooth muscles
• Gap junctions
• Entire muscle contracts as a unit
• Walls of visceral organs (bladder, GIT, etc)
and walls of small-diameter blood
vessels.
• Myogenic.
• Neuronal input can modulate the rate
and strength of contraction. Stretch
activation may occur.
(2) Multi-unit smooth muscles
• Each cell contracts independently in
response to nervous impulses
(neurogenic).
• No APs, stretch activation, or myogenic
activity.
• Muscle in large airways to lungs and large
arteries.
TYPES OF SMOOTH MUSCLE
- Found primarily in the walls of viscera
the musculature of the intestine,
─ the uterus,
─ the ureters,
─ bile,
─ duct,
─ bladder
─ small arteries.
TYPES OF SMOOTH MUSCLE
- Found in structures in which fine, graded
contractions occur
- ciliary muscle of the eye,
- iris muscle of the eye,
- walls of large arteries,
- in airways to the lungs,
- piloerector muscles
Smooth Muscle Contraction (SMC)
• SMC is prolonged tonic contraction, sometimes lasting hours or even days
• Slow cycling of the myosin cross-bridges
• Slow attachment and detachment of cross-bridges
• Energy required to sustain smooth muscle contraction
• Only 1/10 to 1/300 as much energy is required to sustain the same tension of
contraction as in skeletal muscle
• Slowness of onset of contraction and Relaxation
• SM begins to contract 50-100 ms after it is excited
• Contraction time of 1 to 3 seconds
• Force of muscle contraction
• Prolonged period of attachment of the myosin cross-bridges to the actin
filaments
CONTRACTION OF SMOOTH MUSCLE
CONTRACTION OF SMOOTH MUSCLE
Smooth Muscle Contraction (SMC)
Smooth Muscles: Characteristics
Stress-Relaxation of Smooth Muscle
• Ability to return to nearly the original force of contraction
seconds or minutes after it has been shortened
• For example, a sudden increase in volume of urinary bladder
– continued stretch
• Stress-relaxation response
• This mechanism allows a hollow organ to maintain about the
same amount of pressure inside its lumen despite long-term
and large changes in volume
Regulation of Contraction by Calcium ions
• Initiating stimulus: an increase in intracellular calcium ions
• Can be stimulated by several factors
• Smooth muscle does not contain troponin
• It has a calcium-binding protein called Calmodulin
Regulation of Contraction by Calcium ions
Source of Calcium Ions That Cause Contraction
• Caveolae: rudimentary analog of the transverse
tubule system in the skeletal muscle
• Release of Ca ions from the SR upon arrival of an
action potential
• Larger the SR, the more rapid the smooth
muscle contracts
Smooth Muscle Contraction
1) Calcium binds to calmodulin
2) Calmodulin-calcium combination activates myosin light chain
kinase (MLCK; a phosphorylation enzyme)
3) One of the light chains of the myosin head becomes
phosphorylated in response to myosin kinase
Myosin Light Chains *** There is the important difference
that smooth muscle uses Myosin Light-
COO- Chain Kinase (MLCK) to phosphorylate
COO- the regulatory myosin light chain as the
Myosin Heavy Chain Tail main means to provoke the actomyosin
ATPase to start contraction
Myosin Heavy Chain Head
Regulation of Contraction/Relaxation
Smooth Muscle Contraction Smooth Muscle Relaxation
Mechanism of Smooth Muscle Contraction
Cessation of Contraction
• When the calcium concentration falls to a critical level the
contractile processes automatically reverse
• Role of myosin phosphatase: splits phosphate from the
myosin head
• The time required for relaxation of SMC is greatly
determined by the amount of myosin phosphatase
Mechanism of Smooth Muscle Relaxation
Latch Phenomenon
• Latch phenomenon is a characteristic exhibited by smooth
muscles. It refers to the mechanism by which a smooth
muscle can maintain a high tension without actively
contracting.
• This phenomenon allows long-term maintenance of tone in
many smooth muscle organs. In such a state muscle cannot
generate active tension but can effectively resist passive
stretching
Neuromuscular Junctions of Smooth Muscle
• Autonomic nerve fibers generally branch diffusely on top of a sheet
of muscle fibers
• No direct contact with the smooth muscle fiber cell membrane
• “Diffuse junction”
• Varicosities
• These are the vesicles that contain
neurotransmitter substance
• Acetylcholine or Norepinephrine
Effects of Hormones on Smooth Muscle
Contraction
Smooth muscle is involved in a number of disease states
• During an asthma attack or an allergic
reaction, the smooth muscle of bronchi
contract and airways narrow
• Atherosclerosis
• Lactation and myoepithelial cells
