Not to be confused with Retinal. Retinol, also known as Vitamin A1, is a vitamin found in food and used as a dietary supplement. As a supplement it is used to treat and prevent vitamin A deficiency, especially that which is resulting in xerophthalmia.
Desmosomes are anchoring junctions â mechanical couplings scattered like rivets along the sides of adjacent cells to prevent their separation. On the cytoplasmic face of each plasma membrane is a thickening called a plaque.
A Closer Look: Cardiac Muscle Cells. Cardiac muscle cells are rectangular shaped cells connected by regions called intercalated discs. Intercalated discs contain gap junctions and desmosomes. The gap junctions, which are protein-lined tunnels, allow direct transmission of the depolarizing current from cell to cell, across the chambers of the heart, so that the cells contract in unison. Because of the way these gap junctions function, the cardiac muscle cells are said to be electrically coupled. The desmosomes hold the cardiac muscle cells together during contraction, induced by the sliding of the cardiac myofibrils.