Question

Which set clearly identifies striated muscles?
A. Cylindrical, syncytial and unbranched
B. Spindle, unbranched and uninucleated
C. Cylindrical, striped and nucleated
D. Cylindrical, striped and branched

Answer 1

Hint:
There are essentially three types of muscles- Cardiac, smooth and skeletal muscles. All of these differ on the grounds of function, location and structure. Striated muscle is another name for voluntary or skeletal muscles.

Complete answer:
Striated/voluntary/skeletal muscles have a tubular or cylindrical shape. They are bound to the skeleton and are responsible for performing voluntary movements. It has a striated appearance due to unbranched fibres present and is multi-nucleated. The cerebral cortex handles its functioning. Each long muscle fibre is a syncytium. Example: hamstring muscles.

Involuntary or smooth muscles are uninucleated and non-striated. These are spindle-shaped. These perform involuntary actions, therefore these are present in internal organs. Example: Intestine.

Cardiac muscles have functions similar to involuntary muscles while the structure is similar to striated muscles. These are striated and uninucleated with involuntary control. The name suggests that these are found in the heart.

Thus, the correct answer is Cylindrical, syncytial and unbranched

Option ‘A’ is correct

Note:
At a deeper level, skeletal muscles are made up of bundles of muscle fibres wrapped by epimysium. This layer with the help of collagen (tendon) connects muscles and bone. Each epimysium is composed of bundles (fascicles) wrapped around by a perimysium which is further composed of muscle fibres covered with endomysium. Endomysium, perimysium and epimysium are connective tissue sheaths.
Syncytia condition comes from the fusion of unicellular cells to make a multinucleated cell.