Video Transcript
Which of the following is not a
major function of muscles within the human body? (A) To move certain parts of the
body. (B) To produce and secrete red
blood cells. (C) To aid in the digestion of
food. (D) To contract blood vessels and
continuously move blood through them. Or (E) to maintain the posture of
the body in a stationary position.
To answer this question, let’s look
at the main roles of the various muscles found in the body. Muscles help various parts of the
body to move or apply pressure by contracting and relaxing. There are three main types of
muscle that carry out different functions: skeletal muscle, smooth muscle, and
cardiac muscle.
Skeletal muscles are attached to
our bones and can be controlled voluntarily to allow the movement of certain body
parts. For example, skeletal muscles
enable us to move our limbs, which are our arms and our legs. They also help us to maintain our
posture.
Smooth muscle and cardiac muscle
are involuntary muscles, which means that we cannot consciously control their
movement. Smooth muscle is found in lots of
different organ systems, such as in our stomach and intestines, where it helps to
move food through the digestive system. Smooth muscle is also found in the
walls of arteries, where it contracts to help move blood through these vessels
continuously. Cardiac muscle is found in the
heart, where it beats in a continuous rhythm of contraction and relaxation to keep
blood pumping around your body.
If we take a look back at the
possible answers to this question, we can see that the only major function we
haven’t discussed is the production and secretion of red blood cells. Red blood cells are not made or
secreted by muscle, but by the bone marrow. Therefore, the correct answer to
this question asking us to deduce the answer which is not a major function of
muscles in the human body is (B), to produce and secrete red blood cells.
