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The sinoatrial node (also known as the sinuatrial node, SA node or sinus node) is an oval shaped region of special cardiac muscle in the upper back wall of the right atrium made up of cells known as pacemaker cells. The sinus node is approximately 15 mm long, 3 mm wide, and 1 mm thick, located directly below and to the side of the superior vena ...
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 .
However, pacemaker cells are never at rest. In these cells, phase 4 is also known as the pacemaker potential. During this phase, the membrane potential slowly becomes more positive, until it reaches a set value (around -40 mV; known as the threshold potential) or until it is depolarized by another action potential, coming from a neighboring cell.
Location of the pacemaker can also change its effect on the SA node and its rhythm. An ectopic pacemaker located in the atria is known as an atrial pacemaker and can cause the atrial contraction to be faster. [10] An ectopic pacemaker situated near the AV node and the septum is known as a junctional pacemaker. [11]
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, that occurs between the end of one action potential and the beginning of the next.
Cardiac physiology or heart function is the study of healthy, unimpaired function of the heart: involving blood flow; myocardium structure; the electrical conduction system of the heart; the cardiac cycle and cardiac output and how these interact and depend on one another.
The AV node functions as a critical delay in the conduction system. Without this delay, the atria and ventricles would contract at the same time, and blood wouldn't flow effectively from the atria to the ventricles. The delay in the AV node forms much of the PR segment on the ECG, and part of atrial repolarization can be represented by the PR ...
The funny current is highly expressed in spontaneously active cardiac regions, such as the sinoatrial node (SAN, the natural pacemaker region), the atrioventricular node (AVN) and the Purkinje fibres of conduction tissue. The funny current is a mixed sodium–potassium current that activates upon hyperpolarization at voltages in the diastolic ...