Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In biology, depolarization or hypopolarization [1][2] is a change within a cell, during which the cell undergoes a shift in electric charge distribution, resulting in less negative charge inside the cell compared to the outside. Depolarization is essential to the function of many cells, communication between cells, and the overall physiology of ...
Depolarization propagates through cardiac muscle very rapidly. Cells of the ventricles contract nearly simultaneously. The action potentials of cardiac muscle are unusually sustained. This prevents premature relaxation, maintaining initial contraction until the entire myocardium has had time to depolarize and contract. Absence of tetany.
Electrical waves track a systole (a contraction) of the heart. The end-point of the P wave depolarization is the start-point of the atrial stage of systole. The ventricular stage of systole begins at the R peak of the QRS wave complex; the T wave indicates the end of ventricular contraction, after which ventricular relaxation (ventricular diastole) begins.
The P wave is a summation wave generated by the depolarization front as it transits the atria. Normally the right atrium depolarizes slightly earlier than left atrium since the depolarization wave originates in the sinoatrial node, in the high right atrium and then travels to and through the left atrium. The depolarization front is carried ...
Rate dependence of the action potential is a fundamental property of cardiac cells and alterations can lead to severe cardiac diseases including cardiac arrhythmia and sometimes sudden death. [3] Action potential activity within the heart can be recorded to produce an electrocardiogram (ECG). This is a series of upward and downward spikes ...
See media help. The cardiac cycle is the performance of the human heart from the beginning of one heartbeat to the beginning of the next. [1] It consists of two periods: one during which the heart muscle relaxes and refills with blood, called diastole, following a period of robust contraction and pumping of blood, called systole. [1]
As an action potential (nerve impulse) travels down an axon there is a change in electric polarity across the membrane of the axon. In response to a signal from another neuron, sodium- (Na +) and potassium- (K +)–gated ion channels open and close as the membrane reaches its threshold potential. Na + channels open at the beginning of the ...
The AV node is labelled 2. The atrioventricular node or AV node electrically connects the heart 's atria and ventricles to coordinate beating in the top of the heart; it is part of the electrical conduction system of the heart. [1] The AV node lies at the lower back section of the interatrial septum near the opening of the coronary sinus, and ...