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The cells of the SA node are spread out within a mesh of connective tissue, containing nerves, blood vessels, collagen and fat. Immediately surrounding the SA node cells are paranodal cells. [2] These cells have structures intermediate between that of the SA node cells and the rest of the atrium. [6]
Unipolar cells are exclusively sensory neurons. Their dendrites receive sensory information, sometimes directly from the stimulus itself. The cell bodies of unipolar neurons are always found in ganglia. Sensory reception is a peripheral function, so the cell body is in the periphery, though closer to the CNS in a ganglion.
The heart is a functional syncytium as opposed to a skeletal muscle syncytium. In a functional syncytium, electrical impulses propagate freely between cells in every direction, so that the myocardium functions as a single contractile unit. This property allows rapid, synchronous depolarization of the myocardium.
The vagus nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system acts to decrease the heart rate, and nerves from the sympathetic trunk act to increase the heart rate. [8] These nerves form a network of nerves that lies over the heart called the cardiac plexus .
The only cardiac nerves which do not enter into the formation of the deep part of the cardiac plexus are the superior cardiac nerve of the left sympathetic trunk, and the lower of the two superior cervical cardiac branches from the left vagus nerve, which pass to the superficial part of the plexus.
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 action potential passes along the cell membrane causing the cell to contract, therefore the activity of the sinoatrial node results in a resting heart rate of roughly 60–100 beats per minute. All cardiac muscle cells are electrically linked to one another, by intercalated discs which allow the action potential to pass from one cell to the ...
The neurocardiac axis is the link to many problems regarding the physiological functions of the body. This includes cardiac ischemia, stroke, epilepsy, heart arrhythmias and cardiac myopathies. Many of these problems are due to the imbalance of the nervous system, resulting in symptoms that affect both the heart and the brain. [6]