The Generalised Structure of a Skeletal Muscle Cell

Describe the generalised structure of a skeletal muscle cell

  • Skeletal muscle cells are often called striated muscle cells due to the banded appearance.
  • They consist of bundles of fibres. Each fibre is one long, multi-nucleated cell and is made up of bundle of fibrils.
  • These fibrils are divided into thick and thin filament sections called striations. The thick appear as dark bands, and the thin appear as light bands.
  • Each repeating unit of dark and light bands in a myofibril is called a sarcomere.