Cardiac pacemaker controls the rate of contraction for the entire heart muscle because its cells have the quickest rate of spontaneous depolarization, thus they initiate action potentials the quickest. The action potential generated by the SA node passes down the electrical conduction system of the heart, and depolarizes the other potential pacemaker cells (AV node) to initiate action potentials before these other cells have had a chance to generate their own spontaneous action potential, thus they contract and propagate electrical impulses to the pace set by the cells of the SA node. This is the normal conduction of electrical activity in the
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