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Denervation affects the muscle activation process that is brought on by the development and propagation of an action potential and the ensuing release of calcium. It is found that there is an increase with calcium reuptake because of changes within sarcoplasmic reticulum morphology and structure. As a result, there is a decrease in amplitude ...
The heart muscle may become inflamed in a condition called myocarditis, [46] most commonly caused by a viral infection [47] but sometimes caused by the body's own immune system. [48] Heart muscle can also be damaged by drugs such as alcohol, long standing high blood pressure or hypertension, or persistent abnormal heart racing. [49]
The heart is a muscular organ situated in the mediastinum.It consists of four chambers, four valves, two main arteries (the coronary arteries), and the conduction system. The left and right sides of the heart have different functions: the right side receives de-oxygenated blood through the superior and inferior venae cavae and pumps blood to the lungs through the pulmonary artery, and the left ...
The cardiac conduction system (CCS, also called the electrical conduction system of the heart) [1] transmits the signals generated by the sinoatrial node – the heart's pacemaker, to cause the heart muscle to contract, and pump blood through the body's circulatory system.
The action potential passes along the cell membrane causing the cell to contract, therefore the activity of the sinoatrial node results in a resting heart rate of roughly 60–100 beats per minute. All cardiac muscle cells are electrically linked to one another, by intercalated discs which allow the action potential to pass from one cell to the ...
the vagus nerve, part of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, to lower heart rate. The cardiovascular centre also increases the stroke volume of the heart (that is, the amount of blood it pumps). These two changes help to regulate the cardiac output, so that a sufficient amount of blood reaches tissues.
Gap junctions connect the cytoplasms of neighboring cells electrically allowing cardiac action potentials to spread between cardiac cells by permitting the passage of ions between cells, producing depolarization of the heart muscle. [3] [2] All of these junctions work together as a single unit called the area composita. [2]
An increase in sympathetic stimulation to the heart increases contractility and heart rate. An increase in contractility tends to increase stroke volume and thus a secondary increase in preload. An increase in preload results in an increased force of contraction by Starling's law of the heart; this does not require a change in contractility.