All Glossary Terms
Anatomy
Sarcomere
The basic contractile unit of muscle fibers.
A sarcomere is the smallest functional unit of muscle contraction. It contains overlapping thick (myosin) and thin (actin) filaments. When calcium is released, cross-bridges form between myosin and actin, pulling the filaments past each other and shortening the sarcomere. This sliding filament mechanism underlies all muscle contraction.
Examples
- Building blocks of muscle fibers
- Sarcomeres in series = range of motion
- Sarcomeres in parallel = force