Compare and contrast the three forms of muscle tissue.
Answer
Muscle tissue can be highly vascularized. It is responsible for most types of movements. The three types of tissue are skeletal muscle tissue, smooth muscle tissue, and cardiac muscle tissue. The skeletal muscle tissue is long, cylindrical, multinucleate cells with striations. It functions with voluntary movement, locomotion, manipulation of the environment, facial expression, and voluntary control. It can be found located in skeletal muscles attached to bones or occasionally to skin. Smooth muscle tissue has spindle-shaped cells with central nuclei, no striations, and cells arranged closely to form sheets. It functions to propel substances or objects (foodstuff, urine, and a baby) along internal passageways. It is under involuntary control. Smooth muscle is mostly found in the walls of hollow organs. Cardiac muscle tissue has branching, striated, generally uninucleate cells that interdigitate at specialized junctions (intercalated discs). It functions as it contracts; it propels blood into circulation under involuntary control. Cardiac tissue is found in the walls of the heart.