Cardiac pacemaker heart. There are 3 main stages in the generation of an action potential in a pacemaker cell. Since the stages are analogous to contraction of cardiac muscle cells, they have the same naming system. This can lead to some confusion. There is no phase 1 or 2, just phases 0, 3, and 4. The key to the rhythmic firing of pacemaker cells is that, unlike other neurons in the body, these cells will slowly depolarize by themselves and do not need any outside innervation from the autonomic nervous system to fire action potentials. As in all other cells, the resting
Cardiac neural crest cells secondary heart field cells into the cardiac outflow tract. FGF8 mouse mutants have a range of cardiac defects including underdeveloped arch arteries and transposition of the great arteries. GATA transcription factors, which are complex molecules that bind to the DNA sequence "GATA", play a critical role in cell lineage differentiation restriction during cardiac development. The primary function of GATA6 in cardiovascular development is to regulate the morphogenetic patterning of the outflow tract and aortic arch. When GATA6 is inactivated in CNCCs, various cardiovascular defects such as persistent truncus arteriorus and interrupted aortic arch may occur. This phenotype (anomaly) was also