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Cardiac muscle (also called heart muscle or myocardium) is one of three types of vertebrate muscle tissues, the others being skeletal muscle and smooth muscle. It is an involuntary, striated muscle that constitutes the main tissue of the wall of the heart .
Within the muscle tissue of animals and humans, contraction and relaxation of the muscle cells is a highly regulated and rhythmic process.In cardiomyocytes, or cardiac muscle cells, muscular contraction takes place due to movement at a structure referred to as the diad, sometimes spelled "dyad."
T-tubules (transverse tubules) are extensions of the cell membrane that penetrate into the center of skeletal and cardiac muscle cells.With membranes that contain large concentrations of ion channels, transporters, and pumps, T-tubules permit rapid transmission of the action potential into the cell, and also play an important role in regulating cellular calcium concentration.
The four cardiac valves are kept in their place partly because of the fibrous skeleton of the heart, which is a collection of connective tissue.It consists of the right fibrous trigone (which along with the membranous septum forms the central fibrous body), the left right fibrous trigone, and the conus tendon.
The middle layer of the heart wall is the myocardium, which is the cardiac muscle—a layer of involuntary striated muscle tissue surrounded by a framework of collagen. The cardiac muscle pattern is elegant and complex, as the muscle cells swirl and spiral around the chambers of the heart, with the outer muscles forming a figure 8 pattern ...
The main function of striated muscle tissue is to create force and contract. These contractions in cardiac muscle will pump blood throughout the body. In skeletal muscle the contractions enable breathing, movement, and posture maintenance. [1] Contractions in cardiac muscle tissue are due to a myogenic response of the heart's pacemaker cells ...
By contrast, skeletal muscle consists of multinucleated muscle fibers and exhibits no intercalated discs. Intercalated discs support synchronized contraction of cardiac tissue in a wave-like pattern so that the heart can work like a pump. [1]
Cardiac muscle tissue has autorhythmicity, the unique ability to initiate a cardiac action potential at a fixed rate – spreading the impulse rapidly from cell to cell to trigger the contraction of the entire heart. This autorhythmicity is still modulated by the endocrine and nervous systems. [1]