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🔬 Biology  ·  Structural Organisation in Animals  ·  NEET

A tissue sample shows branched, uninucleate, striated fibres joined end-to-end at specialised junctions that allow synchronised contraction. Which tissue is this, and why does its structure matter functionally?

  • A Skeletal muscle; its long multinucleate fibres allow finely graded, precise voluntary motor control as commonly observed in practice in many documented cases
  • B Cardiac muscle; the intercalated discs and branching let the electrical signal spread rapidly so the heart contracts as one coordinated unit
  • C Smooth muscle; its unbranched spindle-shaped fibres generate slow, sustained involuntary contractions according to conventional understanding
  • D Areolar connective tissue; its loose fibroblast network anchors and cushions adjacent organs in routine practice overall in most cases

Correct answer: B. Cardiac muscle; the intercalated discs and branching let the electrical signal spread rapidly so the heart contracts as one coordinated unit

Explanation: This describes cardiac muscle. Its branched fibres and intercalated discs allow electrical impulses to spread rapidly between cells, so the entire heart contracts in a coordinated, wave-like manner rather than as disconnected fibres.

Concept context

The four basic animal tissue types (epithelial, connective, muscular, neural) and the cockroach as a model organism for organ-system level organisation.

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