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These calcium ions bind to and open more calcium channels (called ryanodine receptors) located on the sarcoplasmic reticulum within the cell, allowing the flow of calcium out of the SR. These calcium ions are responsible for the contraction of the heart. Calcium also activates chloride channels called I to2, which allow Cl − to enter the cell ...
The heart is a four-chambered organ consisting of right and left halves, called the right heart and the left heart. The upper two chambers, the left and right atria , are entry points into the heart for blood-flow returning from the circulatory system , while the two lower chambers, the left and right ventricles , perform the contractions that ...
A molecule, called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which is produced by an intracellular structure called a mitochondrion, is then used, as a source of energy, to help move the myosin head, carrying the actin. As a result, the actin slides across the myosin filament shortening the muscle. This is called a power stroke.
These signals are generated rhythmically, which results in the coordinated rhythmic contraction and relaxation of the heart. On the microscopic level, the wave of depolarization propagates to adjacent cells via gap junctions located on the intercalated disc. The heart is a functional syncytium as opposed to a skeletal muscle syncytium. In a ...
Cardiac systole is the contraction of the cardiac muscle in response to an electrochemical stimulus to the heart's cells (cardiomyocytes). Cardiac output is the volume of blood pumped by the ventricles in one minute. The ejection fraction is the volume of blood pumped divided by the total volume of blood in the left ventricle. [3]
The main role of a sinoatrial node cell is to initiate action potentials of the heart that can pass through cardiac muscle cells and cause contraction. An action potential is a rapid change in membrane potential , produced by the movement of charged atoms ( ions ).
Because the beating of the heart depends on the proper movement of ions across the surface membrane, cardiac ion channelopathies form a major group of heart diseases. [ 68 ] [ 69 ] Cardiac ion channelopathies may explain some of the cases of sudden death syndrome and sudden arrhythmic death syndrome . [ 70 ]
It is important to note that intracellular calcium causes muscular contraction in contractile cells, and is the effector ion. In heart pacemaker cells, phase 0 depends on the activation of L-type calcium channels instead of the activation of voltage-gated fast sodium channels, which are responsible for initiating action potentials in ...