Cardiac Muscle Lab Report

Improved Essays
The properties of cardiac muscle are always changing as a result of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous stimulation and pharmacological drugs that alter or stimulate molecular mechanisms in the heart. In order to understand the mechanisms of the heart, we must experiment with the heart by observing the properties of cardiac cells and formulate hypotheses for their observed response.
The structure of cardiac muscle consists of myocardial cells which have a nucleus, contractile filaments (striations), several mitochondria and intercalated discs which contain gap junctions (Silverthorn, 2007). Surrounding the myocardial cells are t-tubules whereby electrical ions can flow into the cell membrane proteins and start action potentials (Silverthorn, 2007). Together, these structures give the heart its ability to contract and communicate with its cells in a regulated manner (Silverthorn, 2007).
…show more content…
The receptor opens and conducts Ca2+ in the cytosol which then bind to the membrane channel Ryanodine receptor (RyR) (Silverthorn, 2007). RyR leaks out Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), which induces a calcium spark (Silverthorn, 2007). Calcium binds to troponin, whose affinity to actin is now higher than tropomyosin, the molecule covering the binding site of actin (Silverthorn, 2007). Adenosine-Diphoshate-bound myosin heads now bind to the active site to form cross-bridges and achieves a power stroke (Silverthorn, 2007). The power stroke causes the contraction of contractile fibres (Silverthorn, 2007). Relaxation begins when ATP binds to myosin which causes its release from the actin binding site (Silverthorn, 2007). Ca2+ returns back to the SR via Ca2+ ATPase and transported from the cell by a Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX) (Silverthorn,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The source of energy in muscles is called adenosine triphosphate. The fibers making up the muscles link with adenosine triphosphate to obtain the energy required to allow the muscles to contract and relax (Dickinson, 2000). The fibers after obtaining the energy and receiving the necessary signal, they perform the required action. In the limbs, the signals are to allow movement or stop movement depends on the concentration of the intercellular calcium ions. Around the limbs, the muscles contain a very elastic protein known as titin (Ting, 2012,).…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They are essential for the proper folding of thick filament myosin during myofibrillogenesis. Therefore, a decrease in these two specific molecular chaperones "results in the destabilization and degradation of their client protein myosin" (Barral et al., 1998; Hawkins et al., 2008; Landsverk et al., 2007). When myosin cannot fold properly into its functional state, sarcomere formation is disrupted because of the importance that myosin has in maintaining organizational structure. A representational image of a sarcomere is shown above in Fig 4., and myosin 's importance is clearly seen as it forms the thick filaments that hold the sarcomeric unit together. This undeniable importance not only arises from the fact that myosin is the main molecular motor involved in muscle contraction, but also because of its structural formation from cross-linking in the M-line and its attachment to the Z-line through the elastic protein,…

    • 1340 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Due to the fact that one of the two ways to increase the strength of a muscle contraction is to increase the frequency at which the motor units fire in order to create a summed effect, it is expected that the shorter the time interval between consecutive stimuli, the greater the force of contraction. If there is a greater amount of time between the stimuli, the muscle would be able to relax before the next stimulus is fired. However, as that time decreases, the individual twitches begin to overlap and produce a stronger contraction. If a skeletal muscle is stimulated before it is able to fully relax, the sarcoplasmic reticulum will continue to release more calcium ions, more cross-bridges will form, and the muscle will contract again under…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Muscles Lab Report

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages

    However, there are a great deal of muscles and nerves in the forearm. When a nerve impulse transmission to synaptosomes induced depolarization, allows calcium ions to enter the cell membrane, the synaptic vesicles move forward and release acetylcholine (ACH). ACH combined with membrane receptors on the endplate cause electronic potentials, potassium and sodium ions exchanging start to spread both sides of muscle cell membrane to form the action potentials, and long with the cell membrane so that both sides of the terminal cistern will release Ca2+, Ca2+ and troponin binding to change tropomyosin, let actin exposed binding site to the cross bridge.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Glt1 Lab Report

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages

    One of the roles of the sodium-potassium pump is to be a receptor for cardiotonic steroids (CTS) [3]. Cardiotonic Steroids consist of substances that contain steroid glycosides and they are inhibitors of the sodium-potassium pump. These cardiotonic steroids inhibit the pumping action produced by the enzymes of the sodium-potassium pump [3]. In the heart, these inhibitors increase the force of contraction and regulate contractility [10].…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Skeletal Muscle System

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages

    and then travels to the end of the motor neuron. The motor end plate is protected by a phospholipid bilayer that has acetylcholine receptors that allow acetylcholine to flow from the synaptic cleft into the motor end plate. When acetylcholine attaches to the acetylcholine receptors, it activates sodium channels to open. Sodium channels open and let positively charged sodium ions rapidly into the motor end plate, while potassium ions are slowly kicked out of the charged environment in the motor end plate. This is the first step of skeletal muscle fiber excitation, where our nervous system sends a nerve signal to our muscle fibers to go from a relaxed position to a contracted position by producing tension on the skeletal muscle of an area to cause the body to move.…

    • 413 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    San Rafael, Calif: Morgan and Claypool. The authors of this book had a primary purpose of creating a reference book or a textbook for graduate and senior undergraduate students in biomedical engineering or biotechnology programs. It provides cardiac tissue engineering strategies, research directions, and applications. It also provides a detailed diagram of the heart and cardiac muscle structure. Medical professionals in cardiology can use this source to acquire cardiac tissue engineering approaches and alternatives.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    An action potential is defined as the change in electrical potential associated with the passage of an impulse along the membrane of a muscle or nerve cell. There are action potentials for skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and pacemaker cells. There are many differences and similarities between each of these action potentials. One of the differences are the resting membrane potentials (RMP). The RMP of the skeletal muscle cell is -70mv, for cardiac muscle it is -90mv, and for the pacemaker action potential, it is -60mv.…

    • 162 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It contractions of the heart consist of the heart taking blood out of the heart and then relaxes to fill the heart back up with blood (Martini & Nath,2014 p.689-692). Each cardiac muscle fiber is made up of a single nucleus that has the appearance of striated or striped. The appearance is light and dark bands. Dark bands are made up of thick protein filaments that are produced by myosin proteins.…

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Muscle Contraction Essay

    • 1101 Words
    • 5 Pages

    It is not until an ATP molecule binds again to the myosin that it releases itself from the actin. The ATPase once more hydrolyzes the ATP and the cycle continues as long as it has sufficient ATP to drive it and a sufficiently high level of Ca2+ around the thin filament. As the muscle cell shortens, the Z discs are drawn together by the sliding filaments. This in turn pulls on surrounding sarcomeres and generates a larger contraction across the whole muscle fibre.…

    • 1101 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sarcolema

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Within the skeletal muscle cells, there are many organelles. Each cell contains a plasma membrane called the sarcolemma, covering the outer surface of the cell (Ivy Rose). The sarcolemma protects the muscle cell and allows for its shape to be kept. From the sarcolemma, tunnel-like extensions called transverse tubules pass through the muscle fiber (Ivy Rose). These transverse tubules connect the sarcoplasmic reticulum with the sarcolemma (Graham and Parker 117).…

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Muscle tissue Comparing skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle tissue Common things between the structures of cardiac muscle and skeletal muscle The skeletal tissue and cardiac muscle tissue both are part of muscle tissue. The cells in cardiac muscle and skeletal muscle are made up of fibres. The fibres in both of these muscles are striated. The fibres in both of these tissue have a similar kind of shape and appearance.…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Carditis is the inflammation of muscle tissue in the heart. These inflammation are classified into three different categories based on the location of the inflammation. They are known as Endocarditis, Myocarditis, and Pericarditis. All three categories have common diagnosis and same procedures in diagnosing the inflammation. Carditis is to be referred to the inflammation of the muscle of the heart and Pancarditis is to be referred to the inflammation of the entire heart.…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Cardiac Tissue

    • 209 Words
    • 1 Pages

    B1) this type of tissue is cardiac tissue. This tissue contains masses of mitochondria and intercalated disc. Cardiac tissue requires large amounts of energy and this type of tissue continuously contracts, providing energy. It also ensures the heart is contracting and relaxing well. The large number of mitochondria determines the function of this tissue because if there was fewer amounts of mitochondria than the heart won’t be contracting and relaxing as good if there were more mitochondria.…

    • 209 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Skeletal Muscle

    • 1270 Words
    • 5 Pages

    These proteins comprise of two different types of filaments that are longitudinal to the fiber, and are organized into hexagonal designs. There are both thick and thin filaments, in which every thick filament there is 6 thin filaments.. Both filaments are connected to an alternative component known as the Z-line, which is perpendicular to the fibers long side. A side note to remember is that the myofibril that runs from one Z-line to another is called a sarcomere. Down the Z-line is a small tube called the transverse or T-tubule. A membrane system called the sarcoplasmic reticulum stores and releases calcium ions that trigger muscle contraction within the…

    • 1270 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays