Differentiate between striated, unstriated and cardiac muscles based on their structure (shape, nucleus, striations),location. Support your answer with diagrams

Striated muscle It is found closely attached to bones. They are long, cylindrical and multinucleated. In a typical muscle such as the biceps, striated (striped) muscle fibres are bundled together in a parallel fashion. A sheath of tough connective tissue encloses several bundles of muscle. They are voluntary in function.

Smooth muscle fibres taper at both ends and do not show striations. Cell junctions hold them together and they are bundled together in a connective tissue sheath. They are multinucleated. The wall of internal organs such as the blood vessels, stomach and intestine contains this type of muscle tissue. Smooth muscles are ‘involuntary’ as their functioning cannot be directly controlled.

Cardiac muscle is type of involuntary striated muscle found in heart. They have 1-2 nuclei per fibre. Communication junctions at some fusion points allow the cells to contract as one unit, i.e., when one cell receives a signal to contract, its neighbours are also stimulated to contract. Cardiac muscle exhibits cross striations and are branched in structure.