Medical Definition of Visceral muscle
1.
Muscle tissue in vertebrates made up from long tapering cells that may be anything from 20-500m long.
Smooth muscle is generally involuntary and differs from striated muscle in the much higher actin/myosin ratio, the absence of conspicuous sarcomeres and the ability to contract to a much smaller fraction of its resting length. Smooth muscle cells are found particularly in blood vessel walls, surrounding the intestine (particularly the gizzard in birds) and in the uterus.
The contractile system and its control resemble those of motile tissue cells (e.g. Fibroblasts, leucocytes) and antibodies against smooth muscle myosin will cross react with myosin from tissue cells, whereas antibodies against skeletal muscle myosin will not.
See: dense bodies.
This entry appears with permission from the Dictionary of Cell and Molecular Biology
(11 Mar 2008)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Visceral Muscle
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