Question

What is the specific function of cardiac tissue...?

Answer 1

Cardiac muscle tissue is only found in your heart, where it performs coordinated contractions that allow your heart to pump blood through your circulatory system. Keep reading to learn more about the function and structure of cardiac muscle tissue, as well as conditions that affect this type of muscle tissue.

Answer 2

Cardiac muscle tissue is one of the three types of muscle tissue in your body. The other two types are skeletal muscle tissue and smooth muscle tissue. Cardiac muscle tissue is only found in your heart, where it performs coordinated contractions that allow your heart to pump blood through your circulatory system.

Keep reading to learn more about the function and structure of cardiac muscle tissue, as well as conditions that affect this type of muscle tissue.

How does it function?

Cardiac muscle tissue works to keep your heart pumping through involuntary movements. This is one feature that differentiates it from skeletal muscle tissue, which you can control.

It does this through specialized cells called pacemaker cells. These control the contractions of your heart. Your nervous system sends signals to pacemaker cells that prompt them to either speed up or slow down your heart rate.

Your pacemaker cells are connected to other cardiac muscle cells, allowing them to pass along signals. This results in a wave of contractions of your cardiac muscle, which creates your heartbeat.