Cardiac pacemaker Cardiac pacemaker The contraction of cardiac muscle (heart muscle) in all animals is initiated by electrical impulses known as action potentials. The rate at which these impulses fire controls the rate of cardiac contraction, that is, the heart rate. The cells that create these rhythmic impulses, setting the pace for blood pumping, are called pacemaker cells, and they directly control the heart rate. They make up the cardiac pacemaker, that is, the natural pacemaker of the heart. In most humans, the concentration of pacemaker cells in the sinoatrial (SA) node is the natural pacemaker, and the resultant rhythm is a
Cardiac neural crest cells observed when GATA6 was inactivated within vascular smooth muscle cells. GATA6 in combination with Wnt (Wnt2-GATA6) plays a role in the development of the posterior pole of the heart (the inflow tract). There is interest amongst researchers as to whether CNCCs can be used to repair human heart tissue. Heart attacks in humans are common and their rate of mortality is high. There are emergency treatments that hospitals can administer, such as angioplasty or surgery, but after that patients will likely be on medication for the long term and are more susceptible to heart attacks in the future. Other complications