Anatomy & Physiology › Section I · Muscle tissue › Topic I.5
Cardiac and smooth muscle
Your heart beats about 100,000 times a day and your gut keeps moving food along, all without a conscious thought. Cardiac and smooth muscle use the same actin and myosin as skeletal muscle, but they are wired, triggered and repaired very differently.
In this topic
- Two involuntary muscles
- Cardiac muscle cells and intercalated discs
- Pacemaker cells set the rhythm
- The plateau and the role of Ca²⁺
- Worked example: why the heart cannot be tetanised
- Smooth muscle structure
- Switching smooth muscle on and off
- Triggers and two kinds of smooth muscle
- Worked example: a filling bladder
- Development and repair of muscle
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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