In this video, we're going to introduce the 3rd primary type of tissue found in the human body, which is muscle tissue. As you probably already know, muscle tissue is specialized for contraction, and its primary function is to produce body movements. Muscle cells are specifically referred to as myocytes, or they can also be referred to as muscle fibers. These myocytes or muscle fibers are muscle cells that use energy in the form of ATP in order to generate contraction force which allows for those body movements. It's helpful to note that the root "myo" means muscle. We can see this root myo in the word myocytes, which means muscle cells. We can also see this root myo in the word myofilaments, which means muscle filaments.
Notice that we're introducing 3 common features of all muscle tissue. The first common feature of all muscle tissue is that all muscle tissue is going to be highly vascularized, which means that all muscle tissue is going to have lots of blood vessels. The reason that all muscle tissue needs lots of blood vessels is because the blood vessels provide nutrients such as the sugar glucose, which can be used for energy, and blood vessels can also provide oxygen gas, which is going to be needed for lots and lots of muscle contractions. Additionally, blood vessels can help to eliminate wastes from the muscle tissue, such as carbon dioxide gas. Notice we're showing you highly vascularized muscle tissue with lots of blood vessels. This is a common feature to all muscle tissue being highly vascularized.
The second common feature of all muscle tissue is that, similar to epithelial tissue, it's going to consist of tightly packed cells. The reason that it's important that all muscle tissue consists of tightly packed cells is because the tightly packed cells can create more contractile force, which can be critical for body movements. Notice that we're showing you the 3 types of muscle tissue, which are skeletal muscle tissue, cardiac muscle tissue, and smooth muscle tissue. Moving forward in our course, we'll talk more details about each of these three types of muscle tissue in their separate videos. Despite the type of muscle tissue, all of these muscle tissues are going to consist of tightly packed cells that are really close together because that's going to allow for more contractile force, which is important for those body movements.
The third common feature of all muscle tissue is that all muscle tissue is going to contain protein filaments, which are going to be called myofilaments. The root myo means muscle, so these are muscle filaments. These protein filaments or myofilaments are actually going to allow muscle contraction. Notice that we're showing you these protein myofilaments. Notice that in a relaxed state, these protein myofilaments slide past one another, and what you'll notice is that the edges move more inwards here. This is what really allows for the muscle contraction. These are the three common features of all muscle tissue. As we move forward in our course, we're going to continue to talk more and more about the three different types of muscle tissue, which again are skeletal muscle tissue, cardiac muscle tissue, and smooth muscle tissue. I'll see you all in our next video.
