Contractility

Contractility

Contractility (/kɒnˌtrækˈtɪlɪti/) refers to the inherent ability of a muscle or tissue to contract or shorten in response to a stimulus. It is a fundamental property of muscle tissue, including the cardiac muscle, smooth muscle, and skeletal muscle.

Etymology

The term "contractility" is derived from the Latin contractus, meaning "drawn together". It is combined with the suffix -ility, which denotes a condition or quality.

Related Terms

• Inotropy: Refers to the force of muscle contraction. It is closely related to contractility, as both involve the ability of a muscle to contract.
• Chronotropy: Refers to the heart rate. While not directly related to contractility, changes in heart rate can affect the contractility of the heart muscle.
• Dromotropy: Refers to the conduction speed in the AV node, another factor that can influence contractility.
• Lusitropy: Refers to the rate of relaxation of the heart muscle after contraction, which is also related to contractility.

See Also

• Muscle contraction
• Cardiac physiology
• Muscle physiology

External links

• Medical encyclopedia article on Contractility
• Wikipedia's article - Contractility

This WikiMD dictionary article is a stub. You can help make it a full article.

---

Languages: - East Asian 中文, 日本, 한국어, South Asian हिन्दी, Urdu, বাংলা, తెలుగు, தமிழ், ಕನ್ನಡ,
Southeast Asian Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, မြန်မာဘာသာ, European español, Deutsch, français, русский, português do Brasil, Italian, polski