Lecture 10/14: Cardiac Flashcards
Test 4
What type of muscle is cardiac muscle?
Visceral/unitary smooth muscle
Cardiac muscle contracts as a _______
unit
Describe the borders of cardiac cells
They are called intercalated discs
The are convoluted to increase surface area to allow for more gap junctions
Where are intercalated discs?
ONLY IN THE HEART
How many nuclei do cardiac cells have?
1
What does the striation pattern represent?
actin & myosin
Cardiac & ______ sarcomeres are similar
skeletal
What is the role of stem cells in cardiac muscle?
SLOWLY fix other cells that die off
_______ cells lay down scar tissue
Fibroblasts
What happens if stem cells get overwhelmed?
Fibroblasts will lay down scar tissue
What is a condition where fibroblasts unneccessarily lay down scar tissue? How does this affect the heart? What medication can we give to combat this?
CHF
Scar tissue doesn’t contract normally and it disrupts the electrical transduction system of the heart
ACE inhibitors (-prils)
What is an important growth factor in our body?
Angiotensin 2
Why do you NOT want to take ACE inhibitors or ARBs while pregnant?
They block RAA system and angiotensin 2 is an important growth hormone factor. Blocking angiotensin 2 would prevent the proper development of the fetus.
ACE inhibitors has what effect on after load?
reduces after load
Describe the different types of Syncytial connections
“Syncytiums”
- Referring to 2 ventricular layers (endocardium & epicardium) oriented in 2 different directions.
-This allows for a twisting mechanism to get blood out of the ventricles (like twisting water out a towel) - Top/Bottom of heart referring to atria = top & ventricles = bottom
What is the vast majority of cardiac cells?
Muscle tissue
Why is the heart able to produce so much force?
The vast majority of the heart is a muscle tissues. It’s has lots of myofibrils in muscle cells to produce force from action potentials.
Describe Conduction tissue
Transmits AP faster than muscle tissue bc it doesn’t have myofibrils (slows down AP)
Doesn’t produce much force
What are the layers of cardiac muscle from deep to superficial?
Endocardium
Myocardium
Epicardium
Pericardial space
Parietal pericardium
Fibrous pericardium
What are the layers of cardiac muscle from superficial to deep?
Fibrous pericardium
Parietal pericardium
Pericardial space
Epicardium
Myocardium
Endocardium