Cardiac muscle the walls of a house contain electrical wires and plumbing, cardiac muscle also contains specialised cells for conducting electrical signals rapidly (the cardiac conduction system), and blood vessels to bring nutrients to the muscle cells and take away waste products (the coronary arteries, veins and capillary network). Cardiac muscle cells or cardiomyocytes are the contracting cells which allow the heart to pump. Each cardiomyocyte needs to contract in coordination with its neighbouring cells to efficiently pump blood from the heart, and if this coordination breaks down then – despite individual cells contracting – the heart may not pump at all,
Vasa vasorum Vasa vasorum The vasa vasorum is a network of small blood vessels that supply the walls of large blood vessels, such as elastic arteries (e.g. aorta) and large veins (e.g. venae cavae). The name derives . Studies conducted with 3-dimensional microcomputed tomography (3D Micro-CT) on pig and human arteries from different vascular beds have shown that there are three different types of vasa vasorum: Depending on the type of vasa vasorum, it penetrates the vessel wall starting at the intimal layer (vasa vasorum interna) or the adventitial layer (vasa vasorum externa). Due to higher radial and circumferential pressures within the