Connective tissue in the heart provides structure, strength and protection to ensure efficient and effective electrical conduction and mechanical function.
Connective tissue in the heart provides structure, strength and protection to ensure efficient and effective function. Connective tissue protects necessary electrical structures (SA and AV nodes are shielded within a honeycombed matrix of connective tissue).
Connective tissue – inert to electrical conduction – serves to inhibit dysfunctional electrical conduction i.e. direct connection between the atrial and ventricular myocardiumThe muscle layer of the heart; the middle layer that is responsible for contraction of the heart. The muscular myocardium is the thickest layer and the workhorse of the heart. It is composed of specialized muscle and electrical cells that... would significantly reduce the effectiveness of the heart as it would contract almost as one chamber, lose the advantage of atrial kickThe contraction of the atria prior to ventricular contraction causes an increased volume and stretch to the ventricles – resulting in increased force of contraction and increased stroke volume (Starling’s Law); this extra stroke volume increases cardiac output by 10-35%.... and lose the speed and order of the Purkinje networkA matrix of fibres located throughout the myocardium that connects the impulse from the bundle branches to the myocardial tissue. The bundle branches and the Purkinje network facilitate rapid depolarization throughout the ventricles. The Purkinje network also creates a typical.... Contraction speed would be slowed across the ventriclesThe larger chambers of the heart (3 times the volume and muscle thickness than the atria), responsible for the pumping of blood to the lungs and the rest of the body. and the direction of contraction would be reversed from the bottom up (needed as the aortaBegins with the aortic valve, the largest main vessel that carries oxygenated blood from the ventricles to the body. Major Vessels 1. Six Second ECG Guidebook (2012), T Barill, p. 15, 190 and pulmonary arteries are above the ventricles) to top down.
Instead, a layer of connective tissue between the atriaRight and left atria (1/3 volume and muscle mass of the ventricles) pump blood to the ventricles. Chambers and Layers of the Heart 1. Six Second ECG Guidebook (2012), T Barill, p. 190 and ventricles allows only the AV nodeIs located in the inferior aspect of the right atria; functions to slow the conduction speed to allow for atrial conduction prior to ventricular conduction (atrial kick); also serves as a pacemaker if the SA node fails to fire. The... and bundle of HisPart of the AV junction, the bundle of His conducts the impulse through the fibrous plate that separates the atria and the ventricle; the bundle of His is also a pacemaker, firing at 40-60/minute. The bundle of His serves as... to serve as a sole connection, making full use of the advantages of the bundle branchesThe bundle of His terminates in the right and left bundle branches, insulated rapidly conducting electrical pathways that connect with the Purkinje network and thus begin depolarizing waves across the ventricles; the left bundle branch splits into three smaller branches... and the Purkinje network.
Connective tissue is organized in a complexA collection of waveforms (i.e. QRS complex and the ECG complex). 1. Six Second ECG Guidebook (2012), T Barill, p. 194 array of differing functioning structures including the endomysium (surround muscle), perimysium (surround groups of special functioning cells) and endomysium (surrounds individual cells).
Figure 3.3 depicts the structures that form the cardiac skeleton, the septum and the plate of connective tissue that separates the atria from the ventricles. Connective tissue does not conduct electrical impulses, serving rather as an electrical insulator or barrier. To connect the left and right atria electrically, Bachman’s bundle burrows through the atrial septum. The bundle of His performs a similar function, connecting the atria electrically with the ventricles. Note that without the bundle of His, supraventricularLocated above the ventricle – includes the bundle of His, AV node, atria and the SA node. 1. Six Second ECG Guidebook (2012), T Barill, p. 206 impulses would not be transmitted through to the ventricles. The ventricles would then be dependent on their own slow intrinsicCharacteristic or property natural to the heart and its structures. 1. Six Second ECG Guidebook (2012), T Barill, p. 198 pacemakers.