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The endocardium (pl.: endocardia) is the innermost layer of tissue that lines the chambers of the heart. Its cells are embryologically and biologically similar to the endothelial cells that line blood vessels .
The endocardial cushions are thought to arise from a subset of endothelial cells that undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition, a process whereby these cells break cell-to-cell contacts and migrate into the cardiac jelly (towards the interior of the heart tube).
These cells have unique functions that include fluid filtration, such as in the glomerulus of the kidney, blood vessel tone, hemostasis, neutrophil recruitment, and hormone trafficking. Endothelium of the interior surfaces of the heart chambers is called endocardium. An impaired function can lead to serious health issues throughout the body.
The inner endocardium lines the cardiac chambers, covers the cardiac valves, and joins with the endothelium that lines the blood vessels that connect to the heart. On the outer aspect of the myocardium is the epicardium which forms part of the pericardial sac that surrounds, protects, and lubricates the heart.
The myocytes of the heart (also called the myocardial fibers) are arranged in a general circumferential direction in the ventricles. In the left ventricle (LV), the fiber will change gradually in direction from a certain longitudinal-circumferential direction in the outer layer of the heart (epicardium) to another angulated direction almost orthogonal in the inner wall (endocardium), becoming ...
The AV node functions as a critical delay in the conduction system. Without this delay, the atria and ventricles would contract at the same time, and blood wouldn't flow effectively from the atria to the ventricles. The delay in the AV node forms much of the PR segment on the ECG, and part of atrial repolarization can be represented by the PR ...
Frames 24–28 in the animation depict repolarization of the ventricles. The epicardium is the first layer of the ventricles to repolarize, followed by the myocardium. The endocardium is the last layer to repolarize. The plateau phase of depolarization has been shown to last longer in endocardial cells than in epicardial cells.
Then mesothelial cells form the pericardium and migrate to form most of the epicardium. Then the heart tube is formed by the endocardium, which is the inner endothelial lining of the heart, and the myocardial muscle wall which is the epicardium that covers the outside of the tube. [7]