Muscle cells in the mammalian heart are multinucleate, meaning that multiple nuclei are present in the cytoplasm of a large cell. Predict what is different about the cell cycle in a muscle cell.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Muscle cells in the mammalian heart are actually not multinucleate; instead, this description fits skeletal muscle cells. However, the principle behind the question still applies: in cells that become multinucleate, such as skeletal muscle cells, cytokinesis (the process of dividing the cell cytoplasm) does not occur following nuclear division, leading to a cell with multiple nuclei.

Muscle Cells in the Mammalian Heart Are Multinucleate, Meaning That