Striated muscle contraction is a process whereby force is generated within striated muscle tissue, resulting in a change in muscle geometry, or in short, increased force being exerted on the tendons. Force generation involves a chemo-mechanical energy conversion step that is carried out by the actin/myosin complex activity, which generates force through ATP hydrolysis. Striated muscle is a type of muscle composed of myofibrils, containing repeating units called sarcomeres, in which the contractile myofibrils are arranged in parallel to the axis of the cell, resulting in transverse or oblique striations observable at the level of the light microscope.
Here striated muscle contraction is represented on the basis of calcium binding to the troponin complex, which exposes the active sites of actin. Once the active sites of actin are exposed, the myosin complex bound to ADP can bind actin and the myosin head can pivot, pulling the thin actin and thick myosin filaments past one another. Once the myosin head pivots, ADP is ejected, a fresh ATP can be bound and the energy from the hydrolysis of ATP to ADP is channeled into kinetic energy by resetting the myosin head. With repeated rounds of this cycle the sarcomere containing the thin and thick filaments effectively shortens, forming the basis of muscle contraction.