Cardiac action potential that originates from the sinoatrial node is propagated via the His-Purkinje network, the fastest conduction pathway within the heart. The electrical signal travels from the sinoatrial node (SAN), which stimulates the atria to contract, to the atrioventricular node (AVN) which slows down conduction of the action potential, from the atria to the ventricles. This delay allows the ventricles to fully fill with blood before contraction. The signal then passes down through a bundle of fibres called the bundle of His, located between the ventricles, and then to the purkinje fibers at the bottom (apex) of the heart, causing ventricular contraction.
Heart development before the fusion of the endocardial tubes. The heartbeat begins in the region of the pacemaker which has a spontaneous depolarization time faster than the rest of myocardium. The primitive ventricle acts as initial pacemaker. But this pacemaker activity is actually made by a group of cells that derive from the sinoatrial right venous sinus. These cells form an ovoid sinoatrial node (SAN), on the left venous valve. After the development of the SAN, the superior endocardial cushions begin to form a pacemaker as known as the atrioventricular node. With the development of the SAN, a band of specialized conducting