Explain cardiac muscle or heart muscle, Biology

Assignment Help:

Explain Cardiac Muscle or heart muscle?

Cardiac muscle, or heart muscle, is a striated muscle that occurs only in the vertebrate heart. The heartbeat is controlled by noncontractile cells in the heart called Purkinje fibers. These cells have no contractile proteins and are specialized for electrical conduction. The heartbeat is initiated by electrical activity of the pacemaker or sinoatrial node (S. A.) in the wall of the right atrium. How heart cells keep up their rhythmic contraction is not known, but heart cells in culture continue to beat, and even single heart cells beat rhythmically, independently of other muscle cells or external innervation.

An electrical impulse spreads from the sinoatrial node to all parts of the atrium and then to the atrioventricular node, which is located adjacent to the partition between the two ventricles. From here, the impulse spreads through the ventricles and triggers simultaneous contraction of the ventricles.

As in smooth muscle, cardiac muscle cells are joined by gap junctions, structures that contain tiny pores through which electrical currents and calcium can pass from one cell to another. Although the heart beats regularly without nervous intervention, there is a main nerve to the heart, the tenth cranial nerve, or vagus. The vagus nerve contains branches of both the sympathetic and autonomic nervous systems. The sympathetic activity speeds the heart rate, and the autonomic slows it. Cardiac muscle has many mitochondria, as would be expected from its constant activity.

 


Related Discussions:- Explain cardiac muscle or heart muscle

What is bone modeling, Bone Modeling It is a surface-specific activity ...

Bone Modeling It is a surface-specific activity (apposition or resorption) that produces a net change in the size and/or shape of a bone after initial bone formation in the emb

Instance of negative feedback of the homeostatic regulation, Q. What is an ...

Q. What is an instance of negative feedback of the homeostatic regulation? Negative feedback happens when the response to a given action generates an effect that inhibits that

Explain classification and composition of proteins, Proteins - classificati...

Proteins - classification, composition and biological functions  Proteins, as you may already know, are made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and usually sulphur. Prot

Evaluation of heart failure, The initial evaluation of new onset heart fail...

The initial evaluation of new onset heart failure should include an electrocardiogram, chest radiograph, and B-type natriuretic peptide assay. The cardiac rhythm may be normal sinu

Define the different forms of protein energy malnutrition, Define the Diffe...

Define the Different Forms of Protein Energy Malnutrition? The term PEM is used to describe a wide range of clinical conditions ranging 'from the very clinically detectable flo

State the terms complete alimentary tract, State the terms complete aliment...

State the terms complete alimentary tract, complete digestive tract and complete gut? A digestive tract which has an anal and oral opening. This adaptation allowed for a linear

State the term - viral infections, State the term - Viral Infections A ...

State the term - Viral Infections A virus is an encapsulated aggregate of nucleic acid that may be made of either DNA or RNA. Some viruses, such as those causing poliomyelitis

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd