How does cardiac muscle differ from skeletal muscle?
2 Answers
Skeletal muscle is functionally a voluntary muscle but the cardiac muscle is not.
Explanation:
Shape of skeletal muscle fibre is cylindrical: that of cardiac muscle fibre is ribbon like. Moreover the cardiac muscle fibres are branched.
Skeletal muscle fibre is syncytial, i.e. each cell contains multiple number of nuclei, but cardiac muscle fibre is uninucleated.
Junction between two adjacent cardiac cells show intercalated discs where cytoplasmic bridges are present between cells. This is why cardiac muscle cells form a functional syncytium.
Structurally cardiac muscles are striated muscles. But cardiac muscles are involuntary.
Explanation:
Majority of striated muscles act quickly. Involuntary muscles act slow. Their contraction is slow but sustained. On the other hand striated muscles contract fast.
