LL1.H1.5 +D1 Connective Tissue around Muscle
Connective Tissue Around Muscle:
- In skeletal and smooth muscle, the muscle cells rely on connective tissue to hold the muscle bundles together and also to translate the contractile forces generated within the cell into useful work eg. movement at joints, reducing the diameter of a blood vessel
- There are three layers of connective tissue associated with muscles
- These are, the endomysium, perimysium and epimysium
- These layers are most evident in skeletal muscles and are not always discernible in smooth muscle
- Small amount of loose connective tissue that surrounds individual muscle fibres
- It supports capillaries and the terminal branches of nerves which supply the muscle fibre
- More abundant and denser type of connective tissue which surrounds bundles (or fascicles) of muscle fibres
- It supports small arterioles and venules and small nerve bundles
- This is dense connective tissue which forms an enclosing layer around a muscle
- It is also known as the deep fascia
- At the ends of each skeletal muscle, the endomysium, perimysium and epimysium converge to become continuous with the dense regular connective tissue of the tendon
Endomysium:
Perimysium:
Epimysium:
Diagram of Connective Tissue Around Muscle:
