Smooth muscle

Smooth muscle is a type of non-striated muscle, found within the "walls" of hollow organs; such as blood vessels, bladders, uteri. gastrointestinal tracts, Smooth muscle is used to move matter within the body, via contraction; it generally operates "involuntarily", without nerve stimulation. Smooth muscle cells are joined to each other through gap junctions, and a relatively slow wave of contraction is propagated through the muscle. Smooth muscle cells are uninucleic and can sustain contractions indefinitely.

See also: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle