Visceral Muscles
Visceral, or smooth muscle, is found on
the inside of organs such as your blood
vessels, stomach and intestines. Visceral
muscles contract to move substances
through the organ – such as food, waste
and blood. It is the weakest type of
muscle tissue, and it is controlled by the
unconscious part of your brain – you can't
control what it does just by thinking about
it! This muscle type is often referred to
as 'smooth' as it appears smooth when
looked at with a microscope, which is very
different to the banded appearance of
skeletal and cardiac muscle.
Cardiac Muscle
Cardiac muscle is also striated, like
skeletal muscle – they have dark and
light stripes when looked at under a
microscope. This tells us that the muscle
is extremely strong (like skeletal muscles),
unlike the visceral muscles in our organs.
Cardiac muscle is found exclusively in
the heart and its job is to pump blood
throughout our whole body. Again, these
muscles are involuntary – we cannot
control them just by thinking about it.
Although there are hormones in your
body and signals from your brain that tell
your cardiac muscle to change the rate
at which it is contracting, your cardiac
muscle tells itself when to contract. You
have a 'pacemaker' in your heart, which
tells the other cardiac muscles when to
contract. This pacemaker is also made
of cardiac muscle tissue. Because the
muscle tissue can tell itself to contract,
it is considered to be 'autorhythmic'.
IGNIS
9