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The human heart muscle (the myocardium)) (20X)

Microimage
Heart muscle. Image copyright: University of Oslo, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. (Tissue stain: H+E).

The human heart is a muscular organ that pumps blood throughout the body. The heart muscle is called cardiac muscle or myocardium, and it is made up of specialized cells called cardiomyocytes. These cells are striated, which means that they have a striped appearance under the microscope, similar to skeletal muscle fibers.This is not easily seen at this magnification, but magnify the image, and the striation will be visible.

The myocardium is covered by epicardium on the outside and endocardium on the inside.

In summary, the histology of human heart muscle is characterized by striated cardiomyocytes connected by intercalated discs, specialized pacemaker cells, and a network of capillaries and connective tissue.

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Published March 30th 2023, updated April 4th 2023.