CARDIAC MUSCLES AND

THEIR PROPERTIES
 The heart is –two separate pumps:
 right side (thro lungs)
 Left side (thro peripheral organs)
 Pulsatile two chambered pump composed of
an atrium and ventricle
 INTRODUCTION

 Cardiac muscle is striated muscle that is present

only in the heart.

  Cardiac muscle fibers have a single nucleus, are

branched, and joined to one another by intercalated
discs that contain gap junctions for depolarization
between cells and desmosomes to hold the fibers
together when the heart contracts.
 PROPERTIES OF CARDIAC
MUSCLES
 The several properties of Cardiac muscles are five. They are:

1. Conductivity.
2. Excitability.
3. Rhythmicity.
4. Contractility.
5. Summation.

 These properties of cardiac muscle tissue works to keep your heart pumping

through involuntary movements.

 This is one feature that differentiates it from skeletal muscle tissue, which

you can control. It does this through specialized cells called pacemaker cells.

 These control the contractions of your heart.

 EXCITABILITY

 Cardiac muscle tissue is characterized by

automaticity and excitability.

  Cardiac excitability refers to the ease with

which cardiac cells undergo a series of events
characterized by sequential depolarization and
repolarization, communication with adjacent cells,
and propagation of electrical activity.
EXCITABILITY

 In all the tissues, initial response to a

stimulus is electrical activity in the form of
action potential.
 It is followed by mechanical activity in the
form of contraction, secretion etc.
TYPES OF ACTION POTENTIAL

 ACTION POTENTIAL:
The change in electrical potential associated with the passage of
an impulse along the membrane of a muscle cell or nerve cell.

 TYPES OF ACTION POTENTIAL:

The cardiac action potential takes a different form in
different cardiac cells, which include SA nodal cells, atrial
muscle cells, AV nodal cells, Purkinje fibers, and ventricular
muscle cells.

We consider here the action potential of SA nodal cells and

ventricular muscle cells.
PHASES OF ACTION POTENTIAL

 INITIAL DEPOLARIZATION:
 2 msec -- +20-30mv,
Rapid opening of Na channels and Na rapid influx
 INITIAL REPOLARIZATION :
 2msec – 30 – (-10) mv
Simultaneous opening of k channel and closing of fasting Na channels and
opening of slow Ka channels
 PLATEAU OR FINAL DEPOLARIZATION:
 200-300 msec – reaches only till (-40) mv
Slow opening of calcium channels – kept open for a longer time
Slow Na channels are open
 FINAL REPOLARIZATION :
 50-80 msec – (-80) mv
K ions efflux
 PHASES OF EXCITIBILITY
 There are five phases of
Excitibility. They are:

 Phase 0: Depolarization -
influx of Na ions.
 Phase 1: Early repolarization
– Eflux of Cl ions.
 Phase 2: The plateau phase –
Ca ion channal.
 Phase 3: Repolarization –
Eflux of K ions.
 Phase4: The resting phase.
 CONDUCTIVITY

 The conducting system of the heart consists

of cardiac muscle cells and conducting fibers (not
nervous tissue) that are specialized for initiating
impulses and conducting them rapidly through
the heart (see the image below).

 They initiate the normal cardiac cycle and

coordinate the contractions of cardiac chambers.
 CONTRACTILITY

 Myocardial contractility represents the innate ability

of the heart muscle (cardiac muscle or myocardium) to 
contract.

 The ability to produce changes in force during

contraction result from incremental degrees of binding
between different types of tissue, that is, between
filaments of myosin (thick) and actin (thin) tissue. 

 All or None law and Staircase phenomena explains the

contractile properties of heart.
 ALL OR NONE LAW AND
STAIRCASE-PHENOMENA
 ALL OR NONE LAW:
Cardiac muscles is excitable, i.e., it responds to external stimuli by 
contracting.

If the external stimulus is too weak, no response is obtained; if the

stimulus is adequate, the heart responds to the best of its ability.

 STAIRCASE PHENOMENA:
The Bowditch effect is also known as the Treppe phenomenon,
staircase phenomenon, or frequency-dependent activation.

It refers to the idea that an increase in heart rate increases the force of
contraction generated by the myocardial cells with each heartbeat
despite accounting for all other influences.
 REFRACTIVE PERIOD

 Refractive period is the period in which the muscle

does not show any response to a stimulus.

 It has two types:

1. Relative refractive period-Muscles show response
when there is increased in the strength of the
stimulus is maximum.
2. Absolute refractive period-Whatever may be the
strength of the stimulus, muscles does not show any
responses at all.
 RHYTHMICITY
 Cardiac rhythmicity is the
spontaneous Depolarization and Repolarization event
that occurs in a repetitive and stable manner within the
cardiac muscle.

 Rhythmicity is often abnormal or lost in cases of

cardiac dysfunction or cardiac failure.

 It is the ability of the heart to maintain a relatively

stable relation between its systole and diastole. 
 SUMMATION

 When a stimulus with a subliminal strength is

applied the heart does not show any response.

 When few stimulus with same subliminal strength

are applied in succession, the heart shows response
by contraction.

 It is due to summation of the stimuli.

THANK
YOU