Cardiac pacemaker and eventual action potential in contractile cells. Having cardiomyocytes connected via gap junctions allow all contractile cells of the heart to act in a coordinated fashion and contract as a unit. All the while being in sync with the pacemaker cells; this is the property that allows the pacemaker cells to control contraction in all other cardiomyocytes. Cells in the SA node spontaneously depolarize, ultimately resulting in contraction, approximately 100 times per minute. This native rate is constantly modified by the activity of sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve fibers via the autonomic nervous system, so that the average resting cardiac rate
Cardiac cycle is composed of myocytes which initiate their internal contractions without applying to external nerves—with the exception of changes in the heart rate due to metabolic demand. In an electrocardiogram, electrical systole initiates the atrial systole at the P wave deflection of a steady signal; and it starts contractions (systole) of the ventricles at the Q deflection of the QRS complex. (Completing the P wave represents the end of the "ventricular diastole" and the start of the "ventricular systole"—see cycle diagram). The cardiac cycle involves four major stages of activity: 1) "Isovolumic relaxation", 2) Inflow, 3) "Isovolumic contraction", 4) "Ejection". (See