Blood circulation is the result of the beating of the heart, which provides the mechanical
force to pump oxygenated blood to, and deoxygenated blood away from, the peripheral …

Electrogenesis in the heart begins in the sinoatrial node and proceeds down the conduction
system to originate the heartbeat. Conduction system disorders lead to slow heart rates that …

Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is an arrhythmogenic disorder of the myocardium
not secondary to ischemic, hypertensive, or valvular heart disease. ACM incorporates a …

This paper is the third in a series of reviews published in this issue resulting from the
University of California Davis Cardiovascular Symposium 2014: Systems approach to …

Cardiac arrhythmias are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, accounting
for 10% to 15% of all deaths. Although most arrhythmias are due to acquired heart disease …

Cardiac differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can give rise to de novo chamber
cardiomyocytes and nodal pacemaker cells. Compared with our understanding of direct …

At the beginning of this century, debates regarding “what are the main control mechanisms
that ignite the action potential (AP) in heart pacemaker cells” dominated the …

Key points Heart failure (HF), the leading cause of death in developed countries, occurs in
the setting of reduced (HFrEF) or preserved (HFpEF) ejection fraction. Unlike HFrEF, there …

The pacemaker cells of the cardiac sinoatrial node (SAN) are essential for normal cardiac
automaticity. Dysfunction in cardiac pacemaking results in human sinoatrial node …

Ca 2+ homeostasis is essential for cell function and survival. As such, the cytosolic Ca 2+
concentration is tightly controlled by a wide number of specialized Ca 2+ handling proteins …