PHYSIOL 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Desmosome, Cardiac Output, Atrioventricular Node
Document Summary
The contraction of the ventricle are essentially the pump and they will generate the pressure that will drive the flow. So the right ventricle creates the pressure to drive the cardiac output through the pulmonary circulation and the left ventricle generates the pressure to drive the cardiac output through the systemic circulation. For the heart to be a good pump, certain characteristics have to be true. The best way for the ventricles to contract to get to the top you would need to contract at the bottom. Needs to be forceful; need a strong enough contraction to generate enough pressure to drive the flow. If the flow is low, the tissues will die because they will not get enough nutrients and release enough waste. Cardiac muscle is a striated muscle like skeletal muscle. There are sarcomeres where the thin and thick filaments are organized in. Very similar to skeletal muscles and there is troponin (cardiac specific form)
