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The sinoatrial node (SA node) is the primary pacemaker of the heart. It is a region of cardiac muscle on the wall of the upper right atrium near to the superior vena cava entrance. The cells that make up the SA node are specialized cardiomyocytes known as pacemaker cells that can spontaneously generate cardiac action potentials.
The cardiac conduction system (CCS, also called the electrical conduction system of the heart) [1] transmits the signals generated by the sinoatrial node – the heart's pacemaker, to cause the heart muscle to contract, and pump blood through the body's circulatory system.
The primary purpose of a pacemaker is to maintain an even heart rate, either because the heart's natural cardiac pacemaker provides an inadequate or irregular heartbeat, or because there is a block in the heart's electrical conduction system. Modern pacemakers are externally programmable and allow a cardiologist to select the optimal pacing ...
HCN4 is the main isoform expressed in the sinoatrial node, but low levels of HCN1 and HCN2 have also been reported.The current through HCN channels, called the pacemaker current (I f), plays a key role in the generation and modulation of cardiac rhythmicity, [13] as they are responsible for the spontaneous depolarization in pacemaker action potentials in the heart.
In the pacemaking cells of the heart (e.g., the sinoatrial node), the pacemaker potential (also called the pacemaker current) is the slow, positive increase in voltage across the cell's membrane (the membrane potential) that occurs between the end of one action potential and the beginning of the next action potential.
They are located in the sinoatrial node (the primary pacemaker) positioned on the wall of the right atrium, near the entrance of the superior vena cava. [4] Other pacemaker cells are found in the atrioventricular node (secondary pacemaker). Pacemaker cells carry the impulses that are responsible for the beating of the heart.
This page was last edited on 2 January 2015, at 22:11 (UTC).; Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may ...
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 .