By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Differentiate skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle by development, morphology, activation, metabolism, and control of activity, and accurately compare right vs. left heart structure-function relationships using discipline-specific terminology and annotated schematics.
- Analyze energy metabolism in cardiomyocytes and skeletal muscle fibers (e.g., oxidative phosphorylation, glycolysis, substrate flexibility) and predict metabolic shifts under exercise, hypoxia, mild cold, caloric restriction, and oxidative stress, supported by literature-based justification.
- Explain and quantitatively interpret the cardiac cycle, conduction system, and hemodynamics at rest and under extreme exercise or hypoxia, including effects on preload, afterload, stroke volume, cardiac output, and pressure-volume loops, with correct parameter estimation.
- Evaluate autonomic regulation of cardiac activity and blood pressure by integrating sympathetic/parasympathetic pathways, baroreflex mechanisms, and vascular responses; simulate or analyze scenarios to predict and justify reflex outcomes.
- Design and critique experimental approaches and models used in cardiovascular and muscle research (in vitro, in vivo, ex vivo, and computational), articulating validity, limitations, ethical considerations, and translational relevance to human disease.
- Describe and experimentally relate the development of skeletal muscle and the molecular mechanisms of contraction (excitation–contraction coupling, cross-bridge cycling, Ca2+ handling), and connect these mechanisms to functional performance and pathology.
- Assess the roles of muscle fiber type, neuromuscular coordination, reflex and voluntary control, and muscle imbalances in determining performance; propose intervention strategies (training, rehabilitation) grounded in physiological principles and evidence.
- Appraise the impacts of hormones and physical stress on muscle fatigue, hypertrophy and atrophy
Last update: Žurmanová Jitka, doc. RNDr., Ph.D. (21.01.2026)
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