Cardiac Muscle Cross Section
Mammalian heart cross section of a four chambered mammalian heart.
Cardiac muscle cross section. Higher magnification will be required to confirm the presence or absence of myofibrils and cross striations. You can see cross sections of a bands darker and i bands lighter side by side in the same cell because of the fact that the myofibrils don t line up perfectly. Cardiac muscle cells have rounded cross sections less than 25 µm in diameter with a centrally located nucleus.
The blood vessels run parallel to the fibers so you will also see them cut in cross section. Cardiac muscle is even richer than skeletal muscle in mitochondria again important for energy production. Cardiac muscle tissue works to keep your heart pumping through involuntary movements.
Note central location of muscle nuclei. Note the stacks of mitochondria between myofibrils. This is one feature that differentiates it from skeletal muscle tissue which you can control.
Purkinje fibres modified cardiac muscle cells. Cardiac muscle cells or cardiomyocytes contain the same contractile filaments as in skeletal muscle. Note location of muscle fiber nuclei.
In longitudinal section the regular branching and anastomosing pattern is the most distinctive and characteristic feature of cardiac muscle. Observe an appropriate branching area and examine the fibers carefully and note. Cardiac muscle is striated involuntary muscle found in the heart wall.
Cardiac muscle also called heart muscle or myocardium is one of three types of vertebrate muscles with the other two being skeletal and smooth muscles. An intercalated disc is present in the upper left region of the picture. 34 skeletal muscle cross section low magnification webscope imagescope skeletal muscle cross section low magnification.