What is the specific function of the cardiac muscle

The Cardiac Muscle or Myocardium is a muscle tissue that forms the heart. These muscles work non-stop during a human’s life and are thus called involuntary muscles. The specific function of cardiac muscle is to pump blood throughout one’s life. But that’s not the end. There are many more things that cardiac muscles perform. In this article, we shall answer questions such as what is the special function of cardiac muscle? We will also explain the characteristics, diseases, mechanisms, and specific functions of cardiac muscle in detail. • Cardiac muscles are one of the three primary muscle tissues in the human body. • These muscles make up the heart. • These fibrous muscles are composed of cells, including fibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, and cardiomyocytes. • These muscles have an outstanding characteristic, i.e., to involuntarily contract and relax for the pumping action and the rhythmicity of the contraction. • Cardiac muscles are rapid, involuntary muscles that contract and relax cyclically, which means they never rest throughout an individual’s life. • The autonomic nervous system controls the function of cardiac muscle tissue. • The cardiac muscles are composed of cardiomyocyte cells. • The cells found in the cardiac muscles only contain a single nucleus. • The cardiac muscles start dying if it does not receive oxygenated blood for 30 minutes. Lack of oxygen to the cardiac muscles might cause a heart attack. • These muscles are localised at the lining of the heart. Th...

Your heart is the main organ of your cardiovascular system, a network of blood vessels that pumps blood throughout your body. It also works with other body systems to control your heart rate and blood pressure. Your family history, personal health history and lifestyle all affect how well your heart works. Overview What is the heart? The heart is a fist-sized organ that pumps blood throughout your body. It's the primary organ of your circulatory system. Your heart contains four main sections (chambers) made of muscle and powered by electrical impulses. Your brain and What does a heart diagram look like? The inside and outside of your heart contain components that direct blood flow: Inside of the Heart Outside of the Heart Function What is the heart’s function? Your heart’s main function is to move blood throughout your body. Your heart also: • Controls the rhythm and speed of your • Maintains your How does your heart work with other organs ? Your heart works with other body systems to control your heart rate and other body functions. The primary systems are: • Nervous system: Your • Endocrine system: Your Anatomy Where is your heart located? Your heart is located in the front of your chest. It sits slightly behind and to the left of your sternum (breastbone). Your ribcage protects your heart. What side is your heart on? Your heart is slightly on the left side of your body. It sits between your right and left How big is your heart? Everyone’s heart is a slightly different s...

Instructor: Tanya Hausman Tanya has taught for 21 years, anywhere from 1st through 9th grades, as well as STEM. She has a bachelor's in elementary education with a middle school math endorsement from Oklahoma Wesleyan University. She has a current professional teaching license and years of experience creating interesting, engaging lessons for her students. There are three types of muscle in the human body, each with its own structure and function. Skeletal muscle connects to moving bone. It is a voluntary muscle. The muscle is striated, or striped, because the muscle cells are long muscle fibers. Smooth muscle lines hollow organs in the body such as the stomach. This muscle changes shape to facilitate bodily functions. Smooth muscle is very elastic and is involuntary. Heart muscle is not smooth or skeletal; it is cardiac. Cardiac muscle contracts the heart in order to pump blood through the body. Cardiac muscle, also called myocardium, only exists in the heart. This muscle is striated like skeletal muscle and involuntary like smooth muscle. Skeletal muscle, smooth muscle, and cardiac muscle. In the introduction, it was explained that specific types of muscles were involuntary or voluntary. Here is a look at what involuntary versus voluntary actually means. Voluntary muscles can be controlled. Skeletal muscles are voluntary, meaning a person can control, for example, when their arm bends or when muscles move their legs so they can walk. Involuntary muscles work without bein...

The heart has three layers of tissue: • Epicardium: The outermost layer of tissue • Myocardium: The middle layer of tissue, made of muscle • Endocardium: The tissue lining the inside of the heart and valves The pericardium is the sac in which the heart sits. Cardiac Muscle Tissue Function The heart can be thought of as a pump. It is responsible for pumping blood throughout the body to provide oxygen and nutrients. At a cellular level, heart muscle tissue is made up of bundles or fibers of interconnected muscle cells, called cardiomyocytes. These cells are packed with units called sarcomeres that are made of proteins called actin and myosin. When stimulated, these two proteins slide against each other to result in contraction of the heart. The body has three types of muscle tissue. All of them share the ability to contract and have important functions. The tissue types are: • Skeletal muscle tissue provides the function of body movement. It is under voluntary control. • Smooth muscle is found in the digestive tract and in the arteries. It is not under voluntary control. • Cardiac muscle is only found in the heart. It is responsible for pumping blood out of the heart. Conditions That Affect Cardiac Muscle Tissue Heart muscle problems have many causes. Blood pressure is the force that the heart must pump against to eject blood. When blood pressure is high, the heart must work harder. Just like any other muscle, the heart muscle thickens in response to this increased work. Thi...

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: • Describe the structure of cardiac muscle • Identify and describe the components of the conducting system that distributes electrical impulses through the heart • Compare the effect of ion movement on membrane potential of cardiac conductive and contractile cells • Relate characteristics of an electrocardiogram to events in the cardiac cycle • Identify blocks that can interrupt the cardiac cycle Recall that cardiac muscle shares a few characteristics with both skeletal muscle and smooth muscle, but it has some unique properties of its own. Contractions of the heart (heartbeats) are controlled by specialized cardiac muscle cells called pacemaker cells that directly control heart rate. This property is known as autorhythmicity. Neither smooth nor skeletal muscle can do this. Although cardiac muscle cannot be consciously controlled, the pacemaker cells respond to signals from the autonomic nervous system (ANS) to speed up or slow down the heart rate. The pacemaker cells can also respond to various hormones that modulate heart rate to control blood pressure. There are two major types of cardiac muscle cells: myocardial contractile cells and myocardial conducting cells. The myocardial contractile cells constitute the bulk (99 percent) of the cells in the atria and ventricles. Contractile cells conduct impulses and are responsible for contractions that pump blood through the body. The myocardial conducting cel...

Healthy living begins with a healthy heart. The key to a heart-healthy lifestyle is understanding the heart and how it works, making the right lifestyle choices and taking smart measures to reduce your heart disease risk. What is the Cardiac Muscle? The cardiac muscle, also called the “myocardium”, makes up the thick middle layer of the heart. Holding the prime cardiac position , the cardiac muscle is responsible for keeping the heart pumping blood around the body. It is one of three major types of muscle in the body, along with skeletal and smooth muscle. Cardiac muscle is made from cells called cardiocytes. Cardiocytes are branched, connecting with several other cardiocytes, forming a network that facilitates coordinated contraction. Not to be confused with cardiac sphincter, also known as the lower oesophageal sphincter, is located between the esophagus and the stomach. The involuntary contraction and relaxation of the cardiac muscle rapidly pump the blood throughout the cardiovascular system. To accomplish this, the structure of the cardiac muscle has distinct features that allow it to contract in a coordinated way without getting fatigued. The individual cardiac muscle cell or cardiomyocyte is a tubular structure composed of chains of myofibrils, which are rod-like units within the cell. Give three features of cardiac muscle The properties of cardiac muscle include- • Cardiac muscles are involuntary and intrinsically controlled. • Cardiac muscles show rhythmic contrac...

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: • Describe intercalated discs and gap junctions • Describe a desmosome Cardiac muscle tissue is only found in the heart. Highly coordinated contractions of cardiac muscle pump blood into the vessels of the circulatory system. Similar to skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle is striated and organized into sarcomeres, possessing the same banding organization as skeletal muscle ( intercalated disc allows the cardiac muscle cells to contract in a wave-like pattern so that the heart can work as a pump. View the Intercalated discs are part of the sarcolemma and contain two structures important in cardiac muscle contraction: gap junctions and desmosomes. A gap junction forms channels between adjacent cardiac muscle fibers that allow the depolarizing current produced by cations to flow from one cardiac muscle cell to the next. This joining is called electric coupling, and in cardiac muscle it allows the quick transmission of action potentials and the coordinated contraction of the entire heart. This network of electrically connected cardiac muscle cells creates a functional unit of contraction called a syncytium. The remainder of the intercalated disc is composed of desmosomes. A desmosome is a cell structure that anchors the ends of cardiac muscle fibers together so the cells do not pull apart during the stress of individual fibers contracting ( Figure 10.22 Cardiac Muscle Intercalated discs are part of the cardiac mu...