In a serendipitous discovery, UC San Diego researchers using cryo-EM technology captured the first visualizations of the 3-D structure of the muscle acetylcholine receptor in fetal and adult muscles.

The connections between the nervous system and muscles develop differently across the kingdom of life. It takes newborn humans roughly a year to develop the proper muscular systems that support the ...

Skeletal and heart muscles contract and relax upon sliding of parallel filaments of the proteins myosin and actin. Nebulin, another long slender protein, which is present only in skeletal muscle, ...

An international team has produced the first high-resolution 3D image of the sarcomere, the basic contractile unit of skeletal and heart muscle cells, by using electron cryo-tomography. Electron ...

The flow of water within a muscle fiber may dictate how quickly muscle can contract, according to a new study. The flow of water within a muscle fiber may dictate how quickly muscle can contract, ...

Muscle contraction is the tightening, shortening, or lengthening of muscles when you do some activity. It can happen when you hold or pick up something, or when you stretch or exercise with weights.