Skeletal Muscle and Nerve-Muscle Junction

Abstract

Skeletal muscles are the major ending of the efferent branch of the central nervous system. We work our will upon the outside world through these muscles. Skeletal muscles occupy about 80 % of the total weight of the body. They use about 6 % of the resting oxygen consumption to maintain ionic gradients; after strenuous exercise they may use as much as 70 % of the oxygen consumption. Each anatomic muscle is delimited by strong fascial sheets and has a characteristic origin and insertion. The basic unit of the muscle is the muscle fiber or cell that runs from one end of the muscle to the other end and has a diameter of 50 to 100 µm.