iSGTW Image of the week: The micro-world of muscle cells

Image of the week - The micro-world of muscle cells These four visualizations show four sections of a muscle cell, each comprising several saromeres. Different colours indicate different organelles, including the myofibrillar system, sarcoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria and t-tubules. The cell envelope is rendered transparently.Image courtesy of GeomCell Enter the micro-world of your muscle cells, and you’ll find the entire length of a muscle “fiber” is actually a single cell. Called “skeletal muscle cells,” these giants are comprised of a number of repeating units, called sarcomeres, which contain cellular organelles such as myofibrils, mitochondria, t-tubules and sarcoplasmic reticulum.These organelles, even if of the same type, vary widely in their size, shape and location within the cell. Moreover, they often display complex spatial relationships. To understand the complexity of a muscle cell, realistic computer models are instrumental and may serve as a virtual cell