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This period of time is referred to as the refractory period, which is 250ms in duration and helps to protect the heart. In the classical sense, the cardiac refractory period is separated into an absolute refractory period and a relative refractory period. During the absolute refractory period, a new action potential cannot be elicited.
The period during which no new action potential can be fired is called the absolute refractory period. [43] [44] [45] At longer times, after some but not all of the ion channels have recovered, the axon can be stimulated to produce another action potential, but with a higher threshold, requiring a much stronger depolarization, e.g., to −30 mV.
Cardiac cells have two refractory periods, the first from the beginning of phase 0 until part way through phase 3; this is known as the absolute refractory period during which it is impossible for the cell to produce another action potential. This is immediately followed, until the end of phase 3, by a relative refractory period, during which a ...
The afterhyperpolarisation is one of the processes that contribute to the refractory period. Afterhyperpolarization, or AHP, is the hyperpolarizing phase of a neuron's action potential where the cell's membrane potential falls below the normal resting potential. This is also commonly referred to as an action potential's undershoot phase. AHPs ...
This inability to induce another action potential is known as the absolute refractory period. During the hyperpolarization period, the membrane is again responsive to stimulations but it requires a much higher input to induce an action potential. This phase is known as the relative refractory period.
Hyperpolarization by the delayed-rectifier potassium channels causes a relative refractory period that makes it much more difficult to reach threshold. The delayed-rectifier potassium channels are responsible for the late outward phase of the action potential, where they open at a different voltage stimulus compared to the quickly activated ...
Neurons (or nerve cells) are electrically excitable cells within the nervous system, able to fire electric signals, called action potentials, across a neural network. These mathematical models describe the role of the biophysical and geometrical characteristics of neurons on the conduction of electrical activity.
The refractory period of each channel is therefore vital in propagating the action potential unidirectionally down an axon for proper communication between neurons. When the membrane's voltage becomes low enough, the inactivation gate reopens and the activation gate closes in a process called deinactivation .