Cardiac muscle
- in comparison to skeletal myocytes cardiac myocytes are short in length
- cardiac myocytes are not tightly packed, there are lots of gaps in between the cells
- cardiac myocytes have one nuclues per cell unlike skeletal myocytes which are multinucleated
- cardiac muscle tissue has interclated disks connecting the myocytes together
- cardiac muscle is involuntary, we do not consciously control it
- cardiac muscle is striated in appearance
- cardiac muscle is used by the heart to pump blood
Smooth muscle
- called smooth muscle because it lacks striations, just one solid color
- short cells (fusiform) that have just one nucleus
- this type of muscle is arranged in sheets
- smooth muscle is involuntary, we do not consciously control it
- smooth muscle is mainly found within hollow organs and is used to control the diameter of these organs
- it is found within blood vessels, the GI tract, iris of the eye, the uterus, our airways (bronchioles) and is used to control the openings of sphincters within the body
Source: The mind of Aaron
This is an overview about the histology of cardiac and smooth muscle with images
Source: Self made with images from Marieb and http://www.udel.edu/biology/Wags/histopage/colorpage/colorpage.htm