The Intercalated Discs

Cards (4)

  • Cardiac muscle cells are connected to neighboring cells at specialized cell junctions called intercalated discs
  • Features of intercalated discs
    • plasma membranes of two cardiac muscle cells are bound together by desmosomes
    • intercalated discs posses specialized junction termed fascia adherens with actin filaments and plasma membranes
    • cardiac muscle cells are connected by gap junctions (communicating junctions) when ions move
  • Because cardiac muscle cells are mechanically, chemically, and electrically connected to one another, cardiac muscle tissue functions like a single, enormous muscle cell
  • The contraction of one cell will trigger the contraction of others so it spreads through myocardium, which is why it is called the functional syncytium