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Cardiac muscle has what is known as intercalated disks. These connect heart muscle cells to each other, which allows an impulse (contraction) to move through the heart synchronously and therefore beat as it should.

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Q: What role does the unique structure of cardiac muscle play in its function?
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Where is the only place you can find cardiac muscles?

Cardiac muscle is a type of involuntary striated muscle found only in the walls of the heart. This is a specialized muscle that, while similar in some fundamental ways to smooth muscle and skeletal muscle, has a unique structure and with an ability not possessed by muscle tissue elsewhere in the body. Cardiac muscle, like other muscles, can contract, but it can also carry an action potential (i.e. conduct electricity), like the neurons that constitute nerves.Furthermore, some of the cells have the ability to generate an action potential, known as cardiac muscle automaticity (meaning the can and do beat on their own).


Is Heart made up of striated or non striated muscles?

Heart muscle is striated but not in the same way that skeletal muscle is. Cardiac muscle is a type of involuntary striated muscle found only in the walls of the heart.Cardiac and skeletal muscle are similar in that both appear to be striated in that they contain sarcomeres. In striated muscle, such as skeletal and cardiac muscle, the actin and myosin filaments each have a specific and constant length on the order of a few micrometers, far less than the length of the elongated muscle cell (a few millimeters in the case of human skeletal muscle cells).The filaments are organized into repeated subunits along the length. These subunits are called sarcomeres. The sarcomeres are what give skeletal and cardiac muscles their striated appearance of narrow dark and light bands, because of the parallel arrangement of the actin and myosin filaments.However, cardiac muscle has unique features relative to skeletal muscle. For one, the myocytes are much shorter and are narrower than the skeletal muscle cells, being about 0.1 millimeters long and 0.02 millimeters wide .Furthermore, while skeletal muscles are arranged in regular, parallel bundles, cardiac muscle connects at branching, irregular angles.Anatomically, the muscle fibers are typically branched like a tree branch. In addition, cardiac muscle fibers connect to other cardiac muscle fibers through intercalcated discs and form the appearance of a syncytium (continuous cellular material).These intercalcated discs, which appear as irregularly-spaced dark bands between myocytes, are a unique and prominent feature of cardiac muscle .


What is the heart muscle cells special feature?

The muscle has unique features that are only in the heart.These muscles are involuntary striated muscle which are only found in the wall of the heart. This is specialised muscle that can contract, Cardiac muscle, like other muscles, can contract, but it can also carry an action potential (i.e. conduct electricity), like the neurons that constitute nerves.Furthermore, some of the cells have the ability to generate an action potential, known as cardiac muscle automaticity.Read more: Why_is_the_cardiac_muscle_unusual


Which structure is not unique to plant cells?

The nucleus is a structure not unique to plant cells.


Compare and contrast in terms of structure and function the three different types of muscles found in the human body?

Well you only have 3 types of muscles in the human body. Cardiac, Skeletal and Smooth 1 Cardiac Muscle... with is only found in the heart. The specialized striated muscle tissue of the heart, the myocardium. Cardiac muscle is in some ways similar to skeletal and smooth muscle . For example, all three contract when a rise in calicum inside the muscle cell allows interaction between actin and myocin filaments. However, cardiac muscle has a unique structure, and differs in the way that contraction is initiated and regulated. 2.Skeletal Muscle... usually voluntary muscle made up of elongated, multinucleated, transversely striated muscle fibers, having principally bony attachments. Also called striated muscle. Skelekal muscles moves the skeleton and is responsible for all our voluntary movements, as well as for the automatic movements required, for example, to stand, to hold up our head, and to breathe. 2. Smooth Muscles... Muscle tissue that contracts without conscious control, having the form of thin layers or sheets made up of spindle-shaped, unstriated cells with single nuclei and found in the walls of the internal organs, such as the stomach, intestine, bladder, and blood vessels, EXCLUDING out side the heart. The cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and respiratory systems are composed mostly of hollow organs (tubular or sacular), which transport and/or store fluids (either liquids or gases) within the body. The walls of these organs contain smooth muscle, a type of tissue which enables them to constrict or dilate, in this way retarding or facilitating fluid movement as required. This is accomplished by the shortening or lengthening of the individual smooth muscle cells, which occurs in a co-ordinated fashion because the cells are electrically coupled by intercellular connections, known as gap junctions. Other structures in the body that contain smooth muscle include the myometrium - the muscular wall of the uterus - which is responsible for the rhythmic contractions of Labor, the piloerector muscles, which cause skin hair to stand up; and the irises, which control the diameter of the pupils.

Related questions

What does the unique structure of cardiac muscle play in its function?

Cardiac muscle fibres contain GAP JUNCTION in the intercalated disc which makes them to function as a FUNCTIONAL SYNCYTIUM


What type of muscle is the heart formed from?

The heart is made of smooth and cardiac muscle


What is the cardiac muscle?

thick and thin bands (lines) of filaments.


Can the heart contain smooth muscle?

No, they are not. Cardiac muscle is a type of involuntary striated muscle found only in the walls of the heart.This is a specialized muscle that, while similar in some fundamental ways to smooth muscle and skeletal muscle, has a unique structure and with an ability not possessed by muscle tissue elsewhere in the body. Cardiac muscle, like other muscles, can contract, but some of the cells have the ability to generate an action potential, known as cardiac muscle automaticity. Meaning that some of the cells can beat on their own without any nerve stimulation.


Where is the only place you can find cardiac muscles?

Cardiac muscle is a type of involuntary striated muscle found only in the walls of the heart. This is a specialized muscle that, while similar in some fundamental ways to smooth muscle and skeletal muscle, has a unique structure and with an ability not possessed by muscle tissue elsewhere in the body. Cardiac muscle, like other muscles, can contract, but it can also carry an action potential (i.e. conduct electricity), like the neurons that constitute nerves.Furthermore, some of the cells have the ability to generate an action potential, known as cardiac muscle automaticity (meaning the can and do beat on their own).


What are not muscle tissues found in humans?

Human muscle tissues are either skeletal, smooth, or cardiac. Each has unique properties. Skeletal muscle is used to move you around, breathe, etc. Smooth muscle is found in blood vessels, and cardiac muscle is found only in the heart.


This transverse structure unique to muscle cells?

T-Tubules, I think...


What are the components of the striations in striated and cardiac muscles?

Yes, they are. While skeletal muscles are arranged in regular, parallel bundles, cardiac muscle connects at branching, irregular angles. Anatomically, the muscle fibers are typically branched like a tree branch. In addition, cardiac muscle fibers connect to other cardiac muscle fibers through intercalcated discs and form the appearance of a syncytium (continuous cellular material). These intercalcated discs, which appear as irregularly-spaced dark bands between myocytes (muscle cells), are a unique feature of cardiac muscle .


What muscle property makes cardiac muscles unique from the other muscle types?

the heart works continuesly right from our birth till our death.the heart is made up of cardiac muscle which does not fatigue or doesnot need any stimuli to make it work unless it has a good supply of nutrients.


From which muscle does the heartbeat originate?

The heartbeat is caused by the contraction and relaxation of the heart muscle. The heart muscle is a special kind of muscle known as cardiac muscle, which is unique as it is both striated (strong), can work without tiring, and cannot be controlled (the movement of the muscle is automatic).


Is Heart made up of striated or non striated muscles?

Heart muscle is striated but not in the same way that skeletal muscle is. Cardiac muscle is a type of involuntary striated muscle found only in the walls of the heart.Cardiac and skeletal muscle are similar in that both appear to be striated in that they contain sarcomeres. In striated muscle, such as skeletal and cardiac muscle, the actin and myosin filaments each have a specific and constant length on the order of a few micrometers, far less than the length of the elongated muscle cell (a few millimeters in the case of human skeletal muscle cells).The filaments are organized into repeated subunits along the length. These subunits are called sarcomeres. The sarcomeres are what give skeletal and cardiac muscles their striated appearance of narrow dark and light bands, because of the parallel arrangement of the actin and myosin filaments.However, cardiac muscle has unique features relative to skeletal muscle. For one, the myocytes are much shorter and are narrower than the skeletal muscle cells, being about 0.1 millimeters long and 0.02 millimeters wide .Furthermore, while skeletal muscles are arranged in regular, parallel bundles, cardiac muscle connects at branching, irregular angles.Anatomically, the muscle fibers are typically branched like a tree branch. In addition, cardiac muscle fibers connect to other cardiac muscle fibers through intercalcated discs and form the appearance of a syncytium (continuous cellular material).These intercalcated discs, which appear as irregularly-spaced dark bands between myocytes, are a unique and prominent feature of cardiac muscle .


What is the heart muscle cells special feature?

The muscle has unique features that are only in the heart.These muscles are involuntary striated muscle which are only found in the wall of the heart. This is specialised muscle that can contract, Cardiac muscle, like other muscles, can contract, but it can also carry an action potential (i.e. conduct electricity), like the neurons that constitute nerves.Furthermore, some of the cells have the ability to generate an action potential, known as cardiac muscle automaticity.Read more: Why_is_the_cardiac_muscle_unusual