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Myocardial contractility represents the innate ability of the heart muscle (cardiac muscle or myocardium) to contract.It is the maximum attainable value for the force of contraction of a given heart.
Contraction that squeezes blood towards the exit is more efficient than a simple squeeze from all directions. Although the ventricular stimulus originates from the AV node in the wall separating the atria and ventricles, the Bundle of His conducts the signal to the apex. Depolarization propagates through cardiac muscle very rapidly.
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.
First, atrial contraction feeds blood into the ventricles, then ventricular contraction pumps blood out of the heart to the body systems, including the lungs for resupply of oxygen. Cardiac systole is the contraction of the cardiac muscle in response to an electrochemical stimulus to the heart's cells (cardiomyocytes).
The cardiac cycle is the performance of the human heart from the beginning of one heartbeat to the beginning of the next. [1] It consists of two periods: one during which the heart muscle relaxes and refills with blood, called diastole, following a period of robust contraction and pumping of blood, called systole. [1]
The relationship between ventricular stretch and contraction has been stated in the Frank-Starling mechanism which says that the force of contraction is directly proportional to the initial length of muscle fibre. So that the greater the stretch of the ventricle the greater the contraction.
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."
The cardiac pacemaker is the heart's natural rhythm generator. It employs pacemaker cells that produce electrical impulses, known as cardiac action potentials, which control the rate of contraction of the cardiac muscle, that is, the heart rate.