Human Cardiac Muscle under the Microscope

The cardiac muscle is an involuntary, striated muscle that is found in the myocardium, which is the muscle tissue of the heart and forms a thick middle layer between the outer epicardium layer and the inner endocardium layer.

Coordinated contractions of cardiac muscle cells in the heart pump blood out of the atria and ventricles to the blood vessels of the left/body/systemic and right/lungs/pulmonary circulatory systems. This complex mechanism illustrates systole of the heart.

Cardiac muscle cells, unlike most other tissues in the body, rely on an available blood and electrical supply to deliver oxygen and nutrients and remove waste products such as carbon dioxide. The coronary arteries help fulfill this function.

The images below were captured using a lab microscope and a high definition HD microscope camera.

Human cardiac muscle captured under the microscope at 40x.

Human cardiac muscle captured under the microscope at 100x.

Human cardiac muscle captured under the microscope at 400x.

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