Unveiling the Intricacies of Skeletal Myocytes: From Muscle Contraction to Genetic Disorders

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Introduction

In the human body there are approximately 37.2 trillion cells and 200 different types of cells. All of the different types of cells play an important role like the skeletal myocyte. The Skeletal myocyte is a cell that is in a muscle tissue called the Skeletal muscle tissue. It helps the tissue to contract, contains fibers, a structure for the tissue, and much more. The information below provides descriptions, locations, functions, lifespan, disorders that are related to the cell, and other facts about the cell that will blow your mind.

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Skeletal muscle cells are long, cylindrical, and striated. These cells form the structural basis of muscles and individual skeletal muscles are made up of hundreds of muscle fibers bundled together and wrapped in a connective tissue covering. They can be found in skeletal muscle tissue. This tissue is composed of cells that have the special ability to shorten or contract in order to produce movement of the body parts. A whole skeletal muscle is considered an organ of the muscular system.

Each organ or muscle consists of skeletal muscle tissue, connective tissue, nerve tissue, and blood or vascular tissue. Skeletal muscle cells or fibers are highly elongated cells with a very elastic and resistant plasma membrane. Skeletal muscle cells functions are actively secretory, being responsible for the production and secretion of numerous endocrine, autocrine, and bioactive factors. They are optimized (used best) for rapid, forceful contractions. They are also responsible for all movements that are under voluntary control, posture support, heat production, metabolic regulation, homeostasis, muscle cells to contract, and is activated by signals from nerve cells.

An average skeletal muscle cell's lifespan is 10 to 16 years. The amount of time it would take your body to repair and replace skeletal muscle depends on your age, gender and ethnicity.

Replacement means that over a lifetime, the average age of individual skeletal muscle cells decreases. Skeletal muscle cells form from the fusion of many hundreds of myoblasts, so in the adult each contains hundreds of nuclei, which are located just beneath the cell membrane. For example, studies have shown that blood stem cells can possibly generate both skeletal muscle and neurons. Three populations of skeletal muscle stem cells have been identified as satellite cells, cells in the wall of the dorsal aorta, and so-called 'side population' cells. When the muscle is stimulated to contract by the nerve impulse, calcium channels open in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (which is effectively a storage house for calcium within the muscle) and release calcium into the sarcoplasm (fluid within the muscle cell). Some of this calcium attaches to troponin and produce muscle contraction.

A Disorder that is related to the assigned human cell is called Spinal muscular atrophy. Spinal muscular atrophy is a group of genetic disorders in which a person cannot control the movement of their muscles because there are no nerve cells in the spinal cord and brainstem, which means that the nerve cells are not active cells. This disorder related to skeletal myocyte because the nerve cells are the ones that send the skeletal myocyte signals to activate them to move.

This happens when motor neurons in the spinal cord and the brain stem either do not work or stop working because of changes in genes known as survival motor, which are the motor neurons that are the nerve cells that control movement. There is currently no cure for this type of disorder and there is no way to stop it from happening to others as it is an inherited condition. However, treatment can help a person live a full life. The FDA has approved two medications to treat this disorder. First is nusinersen (Spinraza) and Secondly onasemnogene neparvovec-xioi (Zolgensma), which are both some type of form of gene therapy that affect the genes involved in Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

The genes give your body instructions for making a protein that helps with controlling muscle movement. Some of the common symptoms that come with this disorder are, muscle weakness and twitching, difficulty breathing and swallowing, changes in the shape of the limbs, spine, and chest due to muscle weakness, difficulty standing, walking, and possibly sitting. At birth, infants with Spinal Muscular Atrophy type 1 have weak muscles, minimal muscle tone, and feeding and breathing problems. With type 3, symptoms may not appear until the second year of life. In all of its forms, the main features are muscle weakness and muscle wasting.

These occur because the nerves that control movement, called motor neurons, are unable to give the muscles the signal to contract. The weakness tends to affect the muscles that are closer to the center of the body. Spinal muscular atrophy type II (also called Dubowitz disease) is characterized by muscle weakness that develops in children between ages 6 and 12 months. Children with this type can sit without support, although they may need help getting to a seated position. The most common form is caused by a defect (mutation) in the gene. In 94% of all SMA cases, this mutation involves a deletion in a segment known as exon 7. This area is located in the long arm of chromosome 5. Spinal muscular atrophy has generally been believed to affect as many as 10,000 to 25,000 children and adults in the United States, and therefore it is one of the most common rare diseases. One in 6,000 to one in 10,000 children are born with the disease. One in 40 to one in 50 people (approximately 6 million Americans) are carriers of the SMA gene.

- The Treatment success rates are great, like the gene therapy. This new gene increases survival motor neuron protein levels, which improves motor neuron function and increases the likelihood of survival, but that will have to depend on the type of Spinal muscular atrophy your child has. The greatest effects of nusinersen have been seen in infants with type 1, who participated in the ENDEAR trial. These children were enrolled before 7 months of age. In the trial, study investigators saw infants reaching developmental milestones like head control, rolling over, and sitting and standing. A small number of children were able to walk with support.

Conclusion

From a cell that helps muscle tissue contract when using muscle to a cell that was a part of the creation of diseases is something people wouldn’t expect from a tiny cell. Skeletal myocytes are very interesting cells. For example, the cells lifespan can go up to 10 to 16 years that is a pretty long time for a cell. Also another interesting fact about the cell was that it was activated by a different type of cell (the nerve cell) that send signals to activate it. Even though it may seem that this particular cell doesn’t seem intriguing when compared to red blood cells or skin cells it never ceases to amaze me.