What is a cardiac muscle?
Q: What is a cardiac muscle?
A: A cardiac muscle is one of the three main types of muscle in vertebrates found in the walls of the heart.
Q: Is a cardiac muscle under voluntary control?
A: No, a cardiac muscle is involuntary, which means a person cannot control it consciously.
Q: What are the other two types of muscles, besides a cardiac muscle?
A: The other two types of muscles are the skeletal muscles and smooth muscles.
Q: What is the myocardium?
A: The myocardium is the tissue that makes up the thick middle layer of the heart.
Q: How does the coordinated contractions of cardiac muscles in the heart force blood out of the atria and ventricles?
A: The coordinated contractions of cardiac muscles in the heart force blood out of the atria and ventricles to the blood vessels of the left/body/systemic and right/lungs/pulmonary circulatory systems.
Q: What is systole?
A: Systole is the contraction of the heart which forces blood out of the atria and ventricles to the blood vessels of the left/body/systemic and right/lungs/pulmonary circulatory systems.
Q: How do cardiac muscle cells receive oxygen and nutrients and remove waste products?
A: Unlike most other tissues in the body, cardiac muscle cells rely on the coronary arteries to deliver oxygen and nutrients and remove waste products directly because there is no time for them to diffuse.
