where is cardiac muscle tissue located in the body
Cardiac muscle Cardiac muscle (heart muscle) is an involuntary, striated muscle that is found in the walls and histological foundation of the heart, specifically the myocardium. Cardiac muscle is one of three major types of muscle, the others being skeletal and smooth muscle. These three types of muscle all form in the process of myogenesis. The cells that constitute cardiac muscle, called cardiomyocytes or myocardiocytes, predominantly contain only one nucleus, although populations with two to four nuclei do exist.[1][2][pageÂ needed] The myocardium is the muscle tissue of the heart, and forms a thick middle layer between the outer epicardium layer and the inner endocardium layer.
Intercalated disc Intercalated discs are microscopic identifying features of cardiac muscle. Cardiac muscle consists of individual heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) connected by intercalated discs to work as a single functional organ or syncytium. By contrast, skeletal muscle consists of multinucleated muscle fibers and exhibit no intercalated discs. Intercalated discs support synchronized contraction of cardiac tissue. They occur at the Z line of the sarcomere and can be visualized easily when observing a longitudinal section of the tissue.