1) Functional anatomy of cardiac muscle:

-Cardiac muscle cells are similar to skeletal muscle in structure, but the cardiac muscle cells work as a syncitium.

- Cardiac cells are interconnected with each other by the presence of intercalated discs in series and parallel.

- At each intercalated disc the cell membranes fuse with one another to form permeable â€˜communicatingâ€ junctions called Gap junctions that allow rapid diffusion of ions.

2) Myocardial autorhythmic cells:

The ability of some myocardial cells to generate electrical impulses without external stimulus is the reason for myocardial excitability and automaticity. Such types of myocardial cells are called Myocardial autorhythmic cells.

-They are spread all over the atria and ventricles and are connected with each other by intercalated discs.

- These cells generate electrical impulses at their own pace and transmit the impulses to the other autorhythmic cells as well as myocardial contractile cells.

3) Myocardial contractile cells:

-These are the cardiac muscle cells that contract and relax, transmit the electrical impulse to the adjoining cardiac cell, but they cannot generate electrical impulses spontaneously without external stimulation.

-Cardiac action potential:

Phase 0: Depolarisation proceeds rapidly following an excitation stimulus and overshoot to more than zero potential due to the opening of voltage-gated Na+ channels.
Phase 1: Initial rapid repolarization due to closure of Na+ channels and opening of K+ channels.
Phase 2:Plateau phase due to opening of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels.

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