What Is the Function of the Trabeculae Carneae?
According to Union Community College Anatomy and Physiology class materials, the trabeculae carneae aids the ventricles of the heart in pumping blood. The trabeculae carneae is a system of ridges inside the heart made of woven muscle with a configuration that, for its muscle mass, makes it extremely strong when powering a pumping motion. This is important, since the ventricles are the chambers responsible for pumping blood to other locations.
Union Community College Anatomy and Physiology class materials state that the trabeculae carneae are very similar to structures in the atria of the heart known as the pectinate muscles. The muscles of the atria, however, are much thinner than those of the ventricles because they only need to pump blood within the heart to their accompanying ventricles. The left ventricle is the largest and most powerful chamber of the heart and is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood throughout the body. Once the various cells and tissues of the body use up the oxygen, the blood travels back to the heart, entering the right atrium. The atrium pushes the deoxygenated blood into the right ventricle, which then pumps it to the lungs to be oxygenated. The blood then flows to the left atrium, which pumps it into the left ventricle to begin the process again.
