Muscle Physiology - Skeletal Muscle Basics Skeletal Muscle Structure Skeletal muscle comprises the largest single organ of the body. Each of these individual muscles is composed of single cells or fibers embedded in a matrix of collagen. At either end of the muscle belly, this matrix becomes the tendon that connects the muscle to bone.
Muscle cells contain most of the structures common to all cells.
Skeletal muscle fibers are multinucleated and can be as much as two centimeters long. The principal force generating components are actin and myosin molecules. These myofilaments are arranged in interdigitating matrices capable of sliding across each other. Muscle fibers, though, are just the building blocks for whole muscles. The precise way in which fibers are arranged into muscle is referred to as architecture .