answersLogoWhite

0

purkinje fibers

User Avatar

Wiki User

15y ago

What else can I help you with?

Continue Learning about Art & Architecture

The stage of the heart cycle in which the heart muscle contacts and the chambers pump blood?

The sinoatrial node depolarizes the atria and causes them to contract which tops up the ventricles with blood, the signal then moves through the atrioventricular node and then the atrioventricular bundle and into the purkinje fibres which causes the ventricles to depolarize and contract sending blood from the right ventricle to the lungs and from the left ventricle. The Atria repolarizes at the same time as the ventricles depolarize and then a fraction of a second later the ventricles repolarize and the cycle begins again.


What is the main pace maker of the heart?

The primary pacemaker of a normal healthy heart is the sinus node (or SA node). It is located in the right atria of the heart.


What is happening during a complete heart block?

Complete heart block is where the electrical impulses from the SA node of the heart cannot reach the ventricles along the normal pathway. Instead the atrial contract from the SA node singles and the ventricles contract from the ventricular cells


Where are the cells located that make up the pacemaker?

If you mean the heart, there are two pacemakers. One is in the SA Node and the secondary (and slower) back up pacemaker is in a AV Node.


Where is the nervous tissue located in the heart?

Sympathetic innervation of the heart is from cardiac accelerator nerves descending from the uppermost thoracic sympathetic ganglia and the cervical sympathetic ganglia. Parasympathetic innervation comes from the vagus nerve (Cranial Nerve X). These nerves continue into the walls of the heart and provide autonomic innervation, which can only modify the rate and contractility of the heart. Inside the heart, intrinsic pacemaking comes from the sinoatrial node, which automatically paces the heart due to the existence of "funny currents" (seriously, that's what they're called) that depolarize the node. The SA node is located in the right atrium and the depolarization follows tracks to the left atrium and the atrioventricular node. The AV node can automatically depolarize, but it does so at a lower rate than the SA node, so the SA node overrides the AV nodal rhythm. From the AV node, the electrical signal goes through Bundles of His and Purkinje Fibers to deliver a wave of depolarization to the cardiac muscle. These cells are modified cardiac myocytes between the endocardium and the myocardium specialized for the transmission of electrical impulse. Technically, these are not nerves, though they function similar to nerves. Beyond that, there are gap junctions between cardiac myocytes in the intercalated disks that allow for the coordinated contraction of cardiac muscle. In other words, the cells are arranged like a net and the depolarization and contraction of one cell leads to the depolarization and contraction of the cells next to it that have not yet been depolarized.

Related Questions

Where is the cell body that causes SA node cells to depolarize faster?

The sinoatrial (SA) node, also known as the pacemaker of the heart, is the region of the heart where cells depolarize spontaneously to generate electrical impulses. The specific location of the SA node's cell bodies is within the right atrium, near the opening of the superior vena cava.


What is the medical term meaning natural pacemaker?

The sinoatrial node, abbreviated SA node, is the natural pacemaker. The SA node is a specialized collection of cells in the right atrium that can depolarize autonomously and do so on a regular basis. It is a bundle of neurons which 'fire' an electrical impulse at regular intervals, causing the heart muscle to contract. After the sinoatrial node has fired, the electrical impulse is sent to other nodes within the heart which then fire in a sequence that produces the heart beat.Sinoatrial node, SA Node


What is the sa node?

The SA node is the "pacemaker" of the heart. Cells in the SA node are called "pacemaker" cells and they direct the contraction rate of the entire heart by generating action potentials.


What conducting cells set heart rate?

Sinoatrial Node (SA node)


Why sa node called as natural pacemaker?

The sinoatrial (SA) node is called the natural pacemaker of the heart because it generates electrical impulses that initiate each heartbeat. Located in the right atrium, the SA node has specialized cells that can spontaneously depolarize, setting the rhythm for the entire heart. These impulses spread through the heart's conduction system, coordinating contraction and ensuring an efficient pumping action. Thus, it regulates heart rate and maintains a consistent rhythm under normal physiological conditions.


Which cells cause resting membrane potentials to continually depolarize?

Cells with unstable resting membrane potentials, such as pacemaker cells in the heart or neurons in the brain, can continually depolarize due to the presence of a "funny" current (If) that slowly depolarizes the cell until it reaches the threshold for an action potential to be generated.


What initiates the heartbeat?

By generating electrical impulses.By: isamarThe individual cells in a heart actually can beat on their own without any nervous stimulus. However, the cells have to beat together to have a heart that functions the right way. There is a conduction system in the heart made of specialized heart cells that make the rhythm. There are two main "nodes" called the SA node and AV node. The SA node starts the beat. The AV node is a sort of back up for the SA node. There are other special heart cells that made up of special fibers that transmits the signal through out the walls of the heart.


What the location of the SA node?

The Sinoatrial (SA) node and the Atrioventricular (AV) node are both extremely important in the conduction events of the heart. The Sinoatrial node displays pacemaker activity - that is, it spontaneously depolarizes, setting in forth the chain of events that is required for contraction of the heart. Depolarization refers to the event in which positive ions flow into the heart, resulting in a voltage change in the heart, leading to contraction. From the SA node, the voltage is conducted through the internodal pathway to the AV node, in which the impulse is temporarily paused before been transmitted through the Bundle of His and the Left and Right bundle branches. These events, as previously mentioned, are extremely important in conduction pathways of the heart, and hence, the function of the heart :)


What are the group of cells that ajust the heart beat?

The group of cells responsible for adjusting the heart rate are known as the sinoatrial node (SA node) and the atrioventricular node (AV node). The SA node generates the electrical impulses that initiate each heartbeat, while the AV node delays the impulse to allow the atria to contract before the ventricles. Together, these nodes help regulate the heart rate and ensure proper coordination of heart contractions.


Where is a pacemaker placed in the body?

The pacemaker of the heart is the sinoatrial (SA) node, which is located in the upper right atrium, just below the entrance of the superior vena cava. The SA node is responsible for setting the heart rate for the heart.


Where are the cells that initiate the stimulus for contraction of the heart muscle located?

SA node


Small group of cardiac muscle cells that sets the pace for the heart?

Sinoatrial node (SA node) is a small group of specialized cardiac muscle cells located in the right atrium of the heart that acts as the natural pacemaker, initiating the electrical impulses that regulate heart rhythm.