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The cardiac pacemaker is the heart's natural rhythm generator. It employs pacemaker cells that generate electrical impulses, known as cardiac action potentials.These potentials cause the cardiac muscle to contract, and the rate of which these muscles contract determines the heart rate.
The action potential generated by the SA node passes down the electrical conduction system of the heart, and depolarizes the other potential pacemaker cells (AV node) to initiate action potentials before these other cells have had a chance to generate their own spontaneous action potential, thus they contract and propagate electrical impulses ...
In pacemaker cells (e.g. sinoatrial node cells), however, the increase in membrane voltage is mainly due to activation of L-type calcium channels. These channels are also activated by an increase in voltage, however this time it is either due to the pacemaker potential (phase 4) or an oncoming action potential. The L-type calcium channels are ...
The pacemaker potential is the slow depolarization because of sodium influx, and once threshold has been reached the continued depolarization due to calcium influx. [1] Repolarization follows, which is due to the efflux of potassium, which allows for the membrane potential to return to its negative voltage.
The pacemaker current (I f, or I Kf, also called funny current) is an electric current in the heart that flows through the HCN channel or pacemaker channel. Such channels are important parts of the electrical conduction system of the heart and form a component of the natural pacemaker .
HCN channels are sometimes referred to as pacemaker channels because they help to generate rhythmic activity within groups of heart and brain cells. HCN channels are activated by membrane hyperpolarization, are permeable to Na + and K + , and are constitutively open at voltages near the resting membrane potential. [ 2 ]
Pacemaker cells, however, do not have a resting potential. Instead, immediately after repolarization, the membrane potential of these cells begins to depolarise again automatically, a phenomenon known as the pacemaker potential. Once the pacemaker potential reaches a set value, the threshold potential, it produces an action potential. [2]
The cardiomyocytes make up the bulk (99%) of cells in the atria and ventricles. These contractile cells respond to impulses of action potential from the pacemaker cells and are responsible for the contractions that pump blood through the body. The pacemaker cells make up just (1% of cells) and form the conduction system of the heart.