Muscle tissue contains special contractile proteins called actin and myosin which interact to cause movement.

[citation needed] Sub-categorization of muscle tissue is also possible, depending on among other things the content of myoglobin, mitochondria, and myosin ATPase etc.

Smooth muscle is found within the walls of organs and structures such as the esophagus, stomach, intestines, bronchi, uterus, urethra, bladder, blood vessels, and the arrector pili in the skin that control the erection of body hair.

Skeletal muscle is a highly oxygen-consuming tissue, and oxidative DNA damage that is induced by reactive oxygen species tends to accumulate with age.

[13] The oxidative DNA damage 8-OHdG accumulates in heart and skeletal muscle of both mouse and rat with age.

The cardiac muscle cells, (also called cardiomyocytes or myocardiocytes), predominantly contain only one nucleus, although populations with two to four nuclei do exist.

Cardiac muscle cells, unlike most other tissues in the body, rely on an available blood and electrical supply to deliver oxygen and nutrients and to remove waste products such as carbon dioxide.

The paraxial mesoderm is divided along the embryo's length into somites, corresponding to the segmentation of the body (most obviously seen in the vertebral column.

The myotome is divided into two sections, the epimere and hypomere, which form epaxial and hypaxial muscles, respectively.

All other muscles, including those of the limbs are hypaxial, and innervated by the ventral rami of the spinal nerves.

Myoblast migration is preceded by the formation of connective tissue frameworks, usually formed from the somatic lateral plate mesoderm.

Myoblasts follow chemical signals to the appropriate locations, where they fuse into elongate skeletal muscle cells.

In skeletal muscle, contraction is stimulated by electrical impulses transmitted by the motor nerves.

[19] Smooth muscle is found in almost all organ systems such as hollow organs including the stomach, and bladder; in tubular structures such as blood and lymph vessels, and bile ducts; in sphincters such as in the uterus, and the eye.

It fulfills various tasks such as sealing orifices (e.g. pylorus, uterine os) or the transport of the chyme through wavelike contractions of the intestinal tube.

It is self-contracting, autonomically regulated and must continue to contract in a rhythmic fashion for the whole life of the organism.