Functional differentiation within radiate muscles

adiate muscles differ to other structural classifications of muscles in that each fibre has a different line of action. Acting together, the muscles' fibres will draw the insertion towards a point on the origin which has a line of action equivalent to the sum of all the lines of action of the muscle. Acting alone or in combinations, the fibres would be able to produce a large number of motions previously unattainable to the entire muscle. If the Central Nervous System is able to selectively activate particular portions of the muscle to 'fine tune' the motion, the motion would be more efficient and more economical. As the selective activation would be occurring due to functional demands placed on the muscle it is referred to as functional differentiation. It was hypothesised that those fibres of a radiate muscle with a line of action most closely suited to a particular motion would predominate during that motion.