Sarcomere

Definition

A sarcomere is the basic contractile unit of muscle fiber in skeletal muscle, made up of long protein filaments including actin and myosin that slide past each other to produce a muscle contraction. It is bounded by Z lines to which the actin filaments are attached.

Related terms

Actin:

A protein filament in muscle cells that works with myosin in muscular contraction.

Myosin:

A type of motor protein that interacts with actin to cause muscle contraction.

Z line: The boundary structure found at each end of a sarcomere, serving as the anchoring point for actin filaments