Cardiac Muscle

Heart is organized with

An inner lining,
A muscular layer,
An outer connective tissue lining
 Cardiac Muscle
Muscular layer is the myocardium.
Made up of cardiac muscle cells that
are:
Branched
Attach end-to-end
Are striated
Have a single (sometimes two) nucleus
Cardiac Muscle
Cardiac Muscle
 Cardiac Muscle
Cardiac muscle cells or myocytes:
Connect end-to-end via intercalated discs.
Intercalated discs have.
Gap junctions for cell to cell communication
Fascia Adheretes for attachment of actin
filaments
Desmosomes for attaching one cell to the next.
Cardiac Muscle
Cardiac Muscle

Desmosome

Faciae adherentes

Gap Junction
 Cardiac Muscle
Action potentials travel through the
myocardium.
Exact pathway will be considered later.
Action potentials travel from one
muscle cell to the next via gap
junctions.
Permits the synchronous and continual
beating of the myocardium.
 Cardiac Muscle
Cardiac Muscle Cells.
In terms of filaments
and myofibril
organization cardiac
muscle cells similar to
skeletal muscle cells.
However they have
more mitochondria.
Glycogen and
triglycerides provide
energy for the
myocardial cells.
 Cardiac Muscle
The SR is less
extensive in cardiac
muscle cells.
Do not have terminal
cisternae.
Form dyads with T
tubules not triads.
Dyads are located at
the Z line in cardiac
muscle.
 Cardiac Muscle
Cardiac muscle cells then get Ca for
contraction from:
SR but also
T tubules
Calcium-sodium channels (slow sodium
channels)
Slow to open but let in Na plus lots of Ca
Skeletal muscle has only fast sodium
channels.
 Cardiac Muscle
Cardiac muscle cells have their own
intrinsic rhythmicity.
Increases or decreases in heart rate are
mediated by the autonomic nervous
system.