CEP HISTO - Lab Exercise 3 - Musculoskeletal Tissues
CEP HISTO - Lab Exercise 3 - Musculoskeletal Tissues
CEP HISTO - Lab Exercise 3 - Musculoskeletal Tissues
PREPARED BY:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
1) Online laboratory exercises will be done every Independent Learning day (i.e.,
Wednesdays) during the period. Deadlines for the Histology Laboratory Journal will
be on predetermined Mondays. Students will have to submit their journals to their
beadles which will be submitted to the teacher to the faculty room anytime within the
day.
3) All drawings must be placed in a drawing book (i.e., Histology Laboratory Journal)
that each student must provide for themselves. All drawings must be done using
colored pencils to depict a precise and accurate representation of the specimen
discussed. Labels (i.e., parts or structures seen in the slides) must be placed at the
right and written using a BLUE pen.
4) General rubrics will be attached in every exercise to guide the students on how they
are graded.
Introduction
Muscular tissue is the fourth basic tissue type, along with epithelia, connective tissues,
and nervous tissues. It is composed of a group of cells that optimize one of the cell’s
property, contractility. It is composed of elongated cells (muscle fibers or myocytes)
that utilizes ATP to generate force. Moreover, this generated force will result to different
body movements, posture maintenance, and heat generation. Muscle tissues also
provide protection to different organs. Generally, they are classified according to their
structural and functional features as skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscles.
Skeletal muscles are typically attached to the bones of the skeleton. They are specialized
to execute rapid voluntary movements of different organs of the body in response to the
signals transmitted by the CNS. On the other hand, cardiac muscle is specialized for
repetitive, rhythmic contractions over a long period of time without ceasing. Its contraction
is involuntary and regulated by the autonomic nervous system and hormones and
neurotransmitters in the blood. In contrast, smooth muscle Is diverse in its characteristics
and is found in many organs of the body, such as the gastrointestinal, vascular,
respiratory, reproductive, and urinary system.
The bone of the skeletal system is a specialized type of supporting connective tissue
which is different from cartilage. One of the main differences of bones from cartilages is
that the bone is calcified which makes it harder and stronger than the cartilage. They
protect internal organs (e.g., brain, heart), provide an environment for the production of
blood cells (e.g., bone marrow), detoxifies chemicals in the body, and support body
movements.
MUSCULAR TISSUES
A. Skeletal muscle
The whole muscle is surrounded by a thin sheet of dense irregular connective tissue
(epimysium). The whole skeletal muscle is composed of numerous muscle fiber bundles
(fascicles). Each fascicle is surrounded by a sheet of moderately dense irregular
connective tissues (perimysium), while each muscle fiber in the fascicle is surrounded
For Box #1 – Use slide no. 1 to label the structures described in the 1st paragraph
For Box #2 – Use slide no. 2 to label the structures described in the 2nd paragraph.
B. Cardiac muscle
Examine the cardiac muscle tissue in gross view. Note that the cardiac muscle tissue has
an endomysium and perimysium but lacks an epimysium. Like the skeletal muscle,
cardiac muscle tissues are also striated. Actin and myosin filaments are arranged into
sarcomeres. They are much shorter than skeletal muscle fibers with a single, centrally
located nucleus. They typically split into two or more branches that are joined by
intercalated discs and form a meshwork of muscle fibers. These microscopic structures
are irregular transverse thickenings of the sarcolemma, and contain desmosomes, which
hold the fibers together, and gap junctions, which allow muscle action potentials to spread
from one cardiac muscle fiber to another.
In longitudinal sections, examine the slide for the intercalated discs and the centrally
located nucleus of each muscle fiber. Longitudinal striping or striations due to myofibrils
can sometimes be seen.
For Box #3 – Use slide no. 3 to label the structures described above.
C. Smooth muscle
Smooth muscle fibers are short, and spindle shaped. They have one, centrally placed
nuclei. The sarcoplasm of smooth muscle fibers contains thick myosin filaments, thin actin
filaments, and intermediate filaments. Because the various filaments have no regular
pattern of overlap, smooth muscle fibers do not exhibit striations, causing a smooth
appearance. The actin and myosin filaments are organized as a lattice-like network that
is connected to the sarcolemma via adhesion complexes called dense bodies. This
organization allows the cells to twist as they contract, sometimes giving them a distinctive
corkscrew appearance in specimens.
Examine slides 4 to 6 below. Remember that the muscularis of the gastrointestinal tract
is frequently organized as inner circular and outer longitudinal layers of smooth muscle
with a nerve plexus located in between the layers. In hollow organs in which the overall
size of the organ is reduced by smooth muscle contraction, such as the uterus, the
fascicles are intertwined and run in all different directions. In this specimen, some
fascicles are cut in a longitudinal plane, some in a tangential plane, and others are cut
diagonally. Smooth muscle lines the walls of the bronchioles in the respiratory system.
Bronchioles can be identified in the specimen by having a ciliated cuboidal or columnar
epithelium with intensely basophilic nuclei. This smooth muscle aids in expelling air from
the lungs during breathing. It is also important in the cough reflex, which helps to expel
foreign matter such as dust, smoke, and excess mucus from the lungs.
For Box #4 – Use slide no. 4, 5, or 6 to label the structures described above.
SKELETAL TISSUES
Examine the dried bone specimen which shows the compact bone. The osteon, also
called a Haversian system, is the basic unit of the compact bone structure. It has
concentrically arranged lamellae surrounding a centrally located Haversian canal. The
Haversian system consists of (1) a Haversian canal through which blood vessels pass,
(2) concentric lamellae, (3) lacunae, each one of which contains an osteocyte, (4)
canaliculi, which are small narrow spaces containing osteocyte processes, and (5) a
cement line, the thin dense, external bony layer that surrounds each osteon. Volkmann
canals run perpendicularly to and connect Haversian canals with each other. Interstitial
lamellae lie between the more distinct Haversian systems; these are the remnants of
earlier Haversian systems that have been partially resorbed during bone remodeling.
For Box #5 – Use slide no. 9 to label the structures described above.
REFERENCES
Braun DM. 2016. Human structure virtual microscopy. [accessed 2023 Feb 2].
https://vmicro.iusm.iu.edu/hs_vm/toc.htm.
Spitalnik PF. N.d. Histology laboratory manual. [accessed 2023 Feb 2].
https://histologylab.ctl.columbia.edu/HistologyLabManual.pdf
GUIDE QUESTIONS
Analyze the following guide questions and answer them after your labeled screenshots
of the specimen.
1) (LC1) Justify the reason why muscular tissue needs a rich source of blood. What
will happen if muscular tissues are avascular?
2) (LC2) Justify the importance of having enough supply of calcium and vitamin D in
your diet and how it can affect general bone health. What happens to the bones if
they don’t have enough sources of these
RUBRICS
Intervention
Advanced Proficient Developing
Competencies Required
Student demonstrates STRONG, IN- Student demonstrates SUFFICIENT and Student demonstrates LIMITED Student demonstrates LACK or
DEPTH, and CLEAR mastery CLEAR mastery evidenced by … mastery evidenced by… NO mastery evidenced by…
evidenced by…
Characterize and Drawings clearly depict Drawings depict MOST Drawings depict FEW Drawings DO NOT
differentiate ALL the structures the structures of the structures depict the structures
different kinds of described. described. described. described.
muscle tissues
according to their ALL structures found in MOST structures found FEW structures found
NO structure found
shape, size, and the tissues are labeled in the tissues are in the tissues are
in the tissues are
function CORRECTLY (i.e., NO labeled CORRECTLY labeled CORRECTLY
labeled
mistakes). (i.e., FEW [1-3] (i.e., MANY [4-6]
CORRECTLY (i.e.,
mistakes). mistakes).
ALL are mistakes).
Characteristics of Characteristics of Characteristics of
Characteristics of
histological specimens histological specimens histological
histological
are clearly are generally specimens are
specimens are not
incorporated and incorporated and partially incorporated
incorporated and
explained excellently. explained sufficiently. and explained.
explained
incompletely.
Characterize and Drawings clearly depict Drawings depict MOST Drawings depict FEW Drawings DO NOT
differentiate ALL the structures the structures of the structures depict the structures
different bone cells described. described. described. described.
according to their
size, shape, ALL structures found in MOST structures found FEW structures found NO structure found
structure, and the tissues are labeled in the tissues are in the tissues are in the tissues are
function CORRECTLY (i.e., NO labeled CORRECTLY labeled CORRECTLY labeled
mistakes). (i.e., FEW [1-3] (i.e., MANY [4-6] CORRECTLY (i.e.,
mistakes). mistakes). ALL are mistakes).
Characteristics of Characteristics of Characteristics of Characteristics of
histological specimens histological specimens histological histological
are clearly are generally specimens are specimens are not
incorporated and incorporated and partially incorporated incorporated and
explained excellently. explained sufficiently. and explained. explained
incompletely.