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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 muscle (also called heart muscle or myocardium) ... enabling the syncytium to act in a coordinated contraction of the myocardium. There is an ...
In a healthy heart all activities and rests during each individual cardiac cycle, or heartbeat, are initiated and orchestrated by signals of the heart's electrical conduction system, which is the "wiring" of the heart that carries electrical impulses throughout the body of cardiomyocytes, the specialized muscle cells of the heart.
Isolated heart conduction system showing atrioventricular node. The AV node receives two inputs from the right atrium: posteriorly, via the crista terminalis, and anteriorly, via the interatrial septum. [8] Contraction of heart muscle cells requires depolarization and repolarization of their cell membranes. Movement of ions across cell ...
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
An irregular and often very fast heart rate. Premature ventricular contraction (PVC). ... a group of conditions that cause problems with your heart muscles. Some types of cardiomyopathy are ...
Cardiac muscle tissue has autorhythmicity, the unique ability to initiate a cardiac action potential at a fixed rate – spreading the impulse rapidly from cell to cell to trigger the contraction of the entire heart. This autorhythmicity is still modulated by the endocrine and nervous systems. [1]
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.