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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 endocardium also provides protection to the valves and heart chambers. [1]
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 trabeculae carneae also serve a function similar to that of papillary muscles in that their contraction pulls on the chordae tendineae, preventing inversion of the mitral (bicuspid) and tricuspid valves towards the atrial chambers, which would lead to subsequent leakage of the blood back into the atria.
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).
The heart functions as a pump delivering an intermittent volume of blood, incrementally delivered to the lungs, body, and brain. The cardiac skeleton ensures that the electrical and autonomic energy generated above is ushered below and cannot return.
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 heart requires a continuous supply of oxygen to function and survive, much like any other tissue or organ of the body. [1] The coronary arteries wrap around the entire heart. The two main branches are the left coronary artery and right coronary artery. The arteries can additionally be categorized based on the area of the heart for which ...