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 neural crest cells the precursor to the pulmonary artery. In humans, mutations in Notch most often result in bicuspid aortic valve disease and calcification of the aortic valve. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are required for neural crest cell migration into the cardiac cushions (precursors to heart valves and septa) and for differentiation of neural crest cells to smooth muscle cells of the aortic arch arteries. In neural crest–specific Alk2-deficient embryos, the cardiac cushions of the outflow tract are deficient in cells because of defects in neural crest cell migration. Fibroblast growth factor 8 (FGF8) transcription factors are essential for regulating the addition of