A student asks the instructor what it means when the book states, skeletal muscles are syncytial or multinucleated? The instructor responds:

Question

A) "Each of the skeletal muscle cells has an apical, lateral, and basal surface."
B) "They are closely apposed and are joined by cell-to-cell adhesion molecules."
C) "This means that these muscles exhibit cross-striations formed by alternating segments of thick and thin protein filaments, with muscle cells having a branched appearance."
D) "If a skeletal muscle is injured and a portion dies, the adjacent sections of that same skeletal muscle fiber do not die because they have their own nuclear material."

Answer 1

Ans: D
Feedback:
Skeletal muscles are syncytial or multinucleated structures, meaning there are no true cell boundaries within a skeletal muscle fiber. The multinucleated arrangement is important in pathologic states where focal necrosis (death) of a portion of skeletal muscle fibers does not result in necrosis death of the adjacent sections of that same skeletal muscle fiber, because those adjacent sections have their own nuclear material. Cardiac muscle exhibits cross-striations formed by alternating segments of thick and thin protein filaments. In contrast to skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle cells may be branched instead of linear and longitudinal. The other noted qualities are associated with epithelial, not skeletal muscle, cells.