smooth muscle

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smooth muscle

Muscle tissue that contracts without conscious control, having the form of thin layers or sheets made up of spindle-shaped, unstriated cells with single nuclei and found in the walls of the internal organs, such as the stomach, intestine, bladder, and blood vessels, excluding the heart.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

smooth muscle

(Anatomy) muscle that is capable of slow rhythmic involuntary contractions: occurs in the walls of the blood vessels, alimentary canal, etc. Compare striped muscle

[so called because there is no cross-banding on the muscle]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

smooth′ mus′cle

involuntary muscle tissue in the walls of viscera and blood vessels, consisting of nonstriated, spindle-shaped cells.

smooth muscle

Involuntary muscle without the striated fibers of skeletal muscle. It automatically operates internal organs such as the stomach, bladder, and blood vessels.

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Noun	1.	smooth muscle - a muscle that contracts without conscious control and found in walls of internal organs such as stomach and intestine and bladder and blood vessels (excluding the heart) involuntary muscle muscle, musculus - one of the contractile organs of the body myometrium - the smooth muscle forming the wall of the uterus musculus sphincter ani internus - an internal ring of smooth muscle formed by circular fibers of the rectum
	2.	smooth muscle - muscle tissue that does not appear striated under the microscope; has the form of thin layers or sheets muscular tissue, muscle - animal tissue consisting predominantly of contractile cells smooth muscle cell - cells of the smooth muscles

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But in few cases it may remain as fibrous or smooth muscle tissue called Levator glandulae thyroideae connecting the isthmus and hyoid bone.

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"Large clinical trials are urgently needed to build on these encouraging findings." Viagra contains an enzyme inhibitor that allows smooth muscle tissue to be more relaxed.