Cardiac muscle cell fatigue. There are two types of cells within the heart: the cardiomyocytes and the cardiac pacemaker cells. Cardiomyocytes make up the atria (the chambers in which blood enters the heart) and the ventricles (the chambers where blood is collected and pumped out of the heart). These cells must be able to shorten and lengthen their fibers and the fibers must be flexible enough to stretch. These functions are critical to the proper form during the beating of the heart. Cardiac pacemaker cells carry the impulses that are responsible for the beating of the heart. They are distributed throughout the heart
Purkinje fibers the nucleus causes Purkinje fibers to appear, on a slide, lighter and larger than their neighbors, arranged along the longitudinal direction (parallel to the cardiac vector). They are often binucleated cells. Heart rate is governed by many influences from the autonomic nervous system. The Purkinje fibres do not have any known role in setting heart rate unless the SA node is compromised. They are influenced by electrical discharge from the sinoatrial node. During the ventricular contraction portion of the cardiac cycle, the Purkinje fibres carry the contraction impulse from both the left and right bundle branch to the myocardium of