Tag: heart
Scientists Make Strides in Understanding Function of Heart’s Helical Band
by andreas on Dec.02, 2008, under cardiology
Researchers from Caltech have created images of the heart’s muscular layer that reveal the role the configuration of those muscles plays in determining how the human heart contracts. It is reportedly the first time that the functionality of the muscle has been fully understood.
The muscular band, which wraps around the inner chambers of the heart in a helix, acts like a twisting highway along which each heart contraction travels. “The heart twists to push blood out the same way you twist a wet towel to wring water out of it,” explains Morteza Gharib, the principal investigator on the study.
More information on the research is available at Science Daily.
