T. Clark Brelje, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota
Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development
6-160 Jackson Hall
321 Church St SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Robert L. Sorenson, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota
Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development
6-160 Jackson Hall
321 Church St SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
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Smooth muscle is an involuntary muscle that lacks striations.
A smooth muscle cell is spindle-shaped (or fusiform) and occurs as an isolated cell (as seen here; longitudinal section) or in bundles of parallel cells.
Caveolae (#1 and #2) - small invaginations of the plasma membrane involved in the regulation of channels and calcium signaling.
Nucleus (blue) / Nuclear Envelope (purple) - elongated and deformed in contracted cells.
Mitochondria (red) - difficult to identify in this section.
Endoplasmic Reticulum (cyan) - sparse fragments.
Contractile Filaments - network of thin (actin) filaments and thick (myosin) filaments. Difficult to resolve in this section.
Dense Bodies - dark linear structures scattered throughout the cytoplasm. Anchors for thin filaments and intermediate filaments.
Cytoplasm (sacroplasm; green)
Many immune cells surround this smooth muscle cell (green).
Mast Cell (purple) - contains numerous, large homogeneous secretion granules.
Plasma Cells (#1 and #2; tan) - abundant rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) dilated with newly synthesized proteins. A prominent Golgi apparatus is seen in one cell.
Eosinophils (#1 and #2; orange) - contain a multi-lobed nucleus and distinctive, ellipsoid granules with a linear crystalline core.
Small Nerve Fibers (#1, #2, and #3) of bundles of unmyelinated axons (orange) surrounded by processes from Schwann cells (tan) are also seen.