Exam 4 - Lecture 1 Flashcards
Borders with two cardiac cells running up against each other have _____ and how do they differ from rest of body? What does it allow?
Gap junctions. Convoluted or curvy, aren’t a straight line. Allows for more gap junctions
Intercalated discs and where is this term in the body?
High surface area with Gap junctions.
ONLY with heart cells
Pattern of cardiac muscle
Striated pattern with alternating light and dark bands (Actin and myosin)
Each cardiac cell typically has ONLY one ____. Where is this not true?
Nucleus.
Multinucleated cells are only for skeletal muscle.
Stem cells in cardiac muscle
Capable of patching up dying off cellular areas, very slow in cardiac cells. If it is a small issue, the cell can recover. A massive MI, may not be capable of recovering.
(Someone would make a lot of money if they can create a future method to speed up stem cell process)
Fibroblasts in cardiac cells
- Cells that are able to lay down scar tissue
- if cell death happens at a fast clip, fibroblasts come in and lay down scar tissue that stem cells can’t fix in time.
Rate of fibroblast productivity
Typically at A controlled rate, but there are conditions where they will lay down unnecessary scar tissue, typically during CHF.
What can slow down fibroblasts productivity?
Drugs including ACE-I
Block RAAS which is a growth hormone system.
Our body relies on angiotensin 2 as a growth factor, and fibroblasts are controlled by activity of RAAS.
Pregnant can’t be around ace-I or ARBs bc no angiotensin 2 growth factor will heavily affect growth of fetus
What’s the issue with excessive scar tissue?
- Doesn’t conduct AP
- Doesn’t contract
- will alter electrical conduction system and cause problems.
Syncytial connections
Arrangement of heart muscle
Distinct ventricular layers
Ventricle muscle has 2 layers of muscle that is layered in two opposite directions/perpendicular to each other that squeeze together like wringing out a wet towel
How are the 2 ventricle layers connected?
Electrically, very efficient.
Syncytial is also referred to as
Syncytium
Heart is split into two halves, and where is the split at exactly?
Upper and lower which is Atria/ ventricles
Anything below AV node is ventricles
Anything above AV node is atria
Heart is split into two halves, and where is the split at exactly?
Upper and lower which is Atria/ ventricles
Anything below AV node is ventricles
Anything above AV node is atria
Vast majority of heart cells are __________. Why? and they are stacked in ______?
Muscle fibers/tissue, to produce lots of force
Multiple/tons of myofibrils within muscle cells
Stacked on top of each other in LENGTH across cell
Specialized conduction tissue in cardiac muscle and how is it different than skeletal muscle?
Very good at transmitting APs very quickly.
Doesn’t produce force, if any force at all. Less clunky “stuff” such as myofibrils inside the cell to transmit AP faster.
Endocardium layer of heart
Deep cardiac muscle area, one cell layer thick endothelial layer.
Myocardium
The bulk of the muscle wall
Epicardium
Most superficial layer of heart chambers, typically major blood vessels sit on top of this and penetrate deep.
Pericardial space
Just outside epicardium and filled with mucus AND A LITTLE BIT of fluid, which allows for heart to have minimal friction while it moves around and beats.
If we have friction in pericardium, it is _______ and it is due to what?
Extraordinarily painful and can feel like a bad heart attack, due to inflammation in pericardial space or loss of mucus/fluid
Pericardium has ___ layers and it is the:
2; Connective tissue sac that encloses the heart
Parietal pericardium
Inner layer of pericardium
- stretchy