Slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers

Skeletal muscle fibers are divided into two main types: slow-twitch, which are also called slow oxidative fibers, and fast-twitch muscle fibers.

Fast-twitch muscle fibers are further subdivided into fast oxidative and fast glycolytic fibers. This classification is based on the speed of contraction and the metabolic pathway that’s used to make ATP, a molecule that stores energy for muscle contraction.

Most muscles possess a mix of slow-twitch and fast-twitch fibers, but the predominant one determines the primary function of the muscle.

Alright, now let’s take a look at a muscle cell, or myocyte - and specifically it’s sarcoplasm, which is the cytoplasm of a muscle cell.

The sarcoplasm is filled with stacks of long filaments called myofibrils.

Each myofibril has thick myosin and thin actin filaments that don’t extend through the entire length of the muscle fiber, instead they’re arranged into shorter segments called sarcomeres.

The myosin filaments have these small club-like extensions, which are called myosin heads.

The thin actin filament look like a pearl necklace that’s gently twisted. Each pearl represents one G-actin protein, which has an active site where the myosin head binds to during contraction.

Now, before myosin can bind actin, myosin needs to power up. Part of the myosin head is an ATPase, meaning that it can cleave an ATP molecule to ADP and phosphate ion and release some energy. The energy is used to cock the myosin head backwards, into its high energy position.

Next, the myosin head binds to the active site, and this triggers the release of the stored energy in the myosin head. When that happens, the myosin head launches pulling the thin filament along with it. This is called the power stroke.

The combined power strokes of all the myosin heads lead to sliding of the thin filament along the thick filament, and this results in the contraction of the skeletal muscle fiber.