Characteristics Of Cardiac Muscle. One of the main characteristic features of the cardiac muscle is that it can initiate its own impulse rhythmically. Cardiac muscle is similar to skeletal muscle another major muscle type in that it possesses contractile units known as sarcomeres.
This inherent rhythmical property is present throughout the cardiac muscle as evident from the electro-physiological studies of the single fibre from the SA. 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. Thereof what are 3 characteristics of cardiac muscle.
The fibers are separated by collagenous tissue that supports the capillary network of cardiac tissue.
Cardiac muscle is striated muscle that is present only in the heart. The hearts role in producing the pressure gradient by which the bodys tissues are perfused with blood means that cardiac muscle is active from about the fourth week of fetal life until death. This feature however also distinguishes it from smooth muscle the third muscle type. Node atrial muscle Purkinje fibre and also from the ventricular muscle fibre.
