Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A classic example of a syncytium is the formation of skeletal muscle.Large skeletal muscle fibers form by the fusion of thousands of individual muscle cells. The multinucleated arrangement is important in pathologic states such as myopathy, where focal necrosis (death) of a portion of a skeletal muscle fiber does not result in necrosis of the adjacent sections of that same skeletal muscle ...
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."
During contraction of a cardiac muscle cell, the long protein myofilaments oriented along the length of the cell slide over each other in what is known as the sliding filament theory. There are two kinds of myofilaments, thick filaments composed of the protein myosin , and thin filaments composed of the proteins actin , troponin and tropomyosin .
[4] [5] Skeletal muscle cells and cardiac muscle cells both contain myofibrils and sarcomeres and form a striated muscle tissue. [6] Cardiac muscle cells form the cardiac muscle in the walls of the heart chambers, and have a single central nucleus. [7] Cardiac muscle cells are joined to neighboring cells by intercalated discs, and when joined ...
The degree of binding depends upon the concentration of calcium ions in the cell. Within an in vivo intact heart, the action/response of the sympathetic nervous system is driven by precisely timed releases of a catecholamine , which is a process that determines the concentration of calcium ions in the cytosol of cardiac muscle cells.
Cardiac excitation-contraction coupling (Cardiac EC coupling) describes the series of events, from the production of an electrical impulse (action potential) to the contraction of muscles in the heart. [1] This process is of vital importance as it allows for the heart to beat in a controlled manner, without the need for conscious input.
When two independently beating embryonic cardiac muscle cells are placed together, the cell with the higher inherent rate sets the pace, and the impulse spreads from the faster to the slower cell to trigger a contraction. As more cells are joined, the fastest cell continues to assume control of the rate. A fully developed adult heart maintains ...
Depolarization propagates through cardiac muscle very rapidly. Cells of the ventricles contract nearly simultaneously. The action potentials of cardiac muscle are unusually sustained. This prevents premature relaxation, maintaining initial contraction until the entire myocardium has had time to depolarize and contract. Absence of tetany.