sarcomere

American

[sahr-kuh-meer] / ˈsɑr kəˌmɪər /

noun

Biology.

any of the segments of myofibril in striated muscle fibers.

sarcomere British

/ ˈsɑːkəʊˌmɪə /

noun

any of the units that together comprise skeletal muscle

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

sarcomere Scientific

/ sär′kə-mîr′ /

The contractile unit of a skeletal muscle fiber. Sarcomeres are divided into bands of filaments made of actin or myosin. During muscle contraction, the filaments slide over each other to cause shortening of the sarcomere.

Etymology

Origin of sarcomere

First recorded in 1890–95; sarco- + -mere

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

By expressing RBFox1 in immature human stem cell-derived heart cells, the researchers saw enhancements in key indicators of maturation, including cell size, sarcomere structure, contraction, calcium handling and oxygen usage.

From Science Daily • Dec. 18, 2023

Further analyses showed RBFox1 regulated splicing of RNA transcripts linked to heart cell contraction and sarcomere components.

From Science Daily • Dec. 18, 2023

The sarcomere is subdivided in several regions, called zones and bands, in which these filaments are arranged in different ways.

From Science Daily • Nov. 1, 2023

One sarcomere is the space between two consecutive Z discs and contains one entire A band and two halves of an I band, one on either side of the A band.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

The thick and thin filaments alternate with each other in a structure called a sarcomere.

From Textbooks • Apr. 25, 2013

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023