Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Coronary artery disease (CAD) or ischemic heart disease are the terms used to describe narrowing of the coronary arteries. [8] As the disease progresses, plaque buildup can partially block blood flow to the heart muscle. Without enough blood supply , the heart is unable to work properly, especially under increased stress.
The heart is a muscular organ situated in the mediastinum.It consists of four chambers, four valves, two main arteries (the coronary arteries), and the conduction system. The left and right sides of the heart have different functions: the right side receives de-oxygenated blood through the superior and inferior venae cavae and pumps blood to the lungs through the pulmonary artery, and the left ...
The heart is a muscular organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. [1] Heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. [2] The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the tissue, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide to the lungs. [3]
Inside this layer is the tunica media, which is made up of smooth muscle cells, elastic tissue (also called connective tissue proper) and collagen fibres. [3] The innermost layer, which is in direct contact with the flow of blood, is the tunica intima. The elastic tissue allows the artery to bend and fit through places in the body.
The SA node cells are smaller and paler than the surrounding atrial cells, with the average cell being around 8 micrometers in diameter and 20-30 micrometers in length (1 micrometer= 0.000001 meter). [7] Unlike the atrial cells, SA node cells contain fewer mitochondria and myofibers, as well as a smaller sarcoplasmic reticulum.
The tomographic slices of the heart are 3 millimeters thick and average about 50–60 slices from the coronary artery ostia to the inferior wall of the heart. The calcium score of every calcification in each coronary artery for all of the tomographic slices is then summed up to give the total coronary artery calcium score (CAC score). [9]
[2] [3] Gap junctions connect the cytoplasms of neighboring cells electrically allowing cardiac action potentials to spread between cardiac cells by permitting the passage of ions between cells, producing depolarization of the heart muscle. [3] [2] All of these junctions work together as a single unit called the area composita. [2]
There is no bone to fix sarcomere length in the heart (of any animal) so sarcomere length is very variable and depends directly upon blood filling and thereby expanding the heart chambers. In the human heart, maximal force is generated with an initial sarcomere length of 2.2 micrometers, a length which is rarely exceeded in a normal heart.