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Electrical Properties of Cells at Rest and Maintenance of the Ion Distributions

  • Chapter
Physiology and Pathophysiology of the Heart

Part of the book series: Developments in Cardiovascular Medicine ((DICM,volume 34))

Abstract

Cardiac muscle is a unique excitable tissue. The peculiar electrical properties of heart muscle determine the special mechanical properties of the heart, enabling it to serve as an effective pump for circulating the blood. The entire ventricle is rapidly activated, within several hundredths of a second, by virtue of the rapidly conducting (2–3 m/s) specialized Purkinje fiber system and by rapid propagation (0.3–0.4 m/s) through the myocardium. The ventricular myocardium normally contracts in an all-ornone manner because of the rapid spread of excitation throughout the muscle. Cardiac muscle cannot normally be tetanized because of the long functional refractory period resulting from the long-duration action potential. The long-duration plateau component of the action potential allows the mechanical active state to be maximally developed and maintained for a sufficiently long period.

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Authors
  1. Nicholas Sperelakis
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, 231 Bethesda Avenue, 45267, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Nicholas Sperelakis

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© 1984 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Sperelakis, N. (1984). Electrical Properties of Cells at Rest and Maintenance of the Ion Distributions. In: Sperelakis, N. (eds) Physiology and Pathophysiology of the Heart. Developments in Cardiovascular Medicine, vol 34. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1171-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1171-4_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-1173-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-1171-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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