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In all striated muscle cells, contraction is triggered by a rapid voltage change called an action potential that occurs on the cell membrane. Cardiac muscle cell action potentials differ sharply from those of skeletal muscle cells in three important ways that promote synchronous rhythmic excitation of the heart: (1) they can be self-generating; (2) they can be conducted directly from cell to cell; and (3) they have long duration, which precludes fusion of individual twitch contractions. To understand these special electrical properties of the cardiac muscle and how cardiac function depends on them, the basic electrical properties of excitable cell membranes must first be reviewed.
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All cells have an electrical potential (voltage) across their membranes. Such
transmembrane potentials are caused by a separation of electrical charges across the membrane itself. The only way that the transmembrane potential can change is for electrical charges to move across (ie, current to flow through) the cell membrane.
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There are two important corollaries to this statement: (1) the rate of change of transmembrane voltage is directly proportional to the net current across the membrane; and (2) transmembrane voltage is stable (ie, unchanging) only when there is no net current across the membrane.
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Unlike a wire, current across cell membranes is not carried by electrons but by the movement of ions through the cell membrane. The three ions that are the most important determinants of cardiac transmembrane potentials are sodium (Na+) and calcium (Ca2+), which are more concentrated in the interstitial fluid than they are inside cells, and potassium (K+), which is more concentrated in intracellular than interstitial fluid. (See Appendix B for normal values of many constituents of adult human plasma.) In general, such ions are very insoluble in lipids. Consequently, they cannot pass into or out of a cell through the lipid bilayer of the membrane itself. Instead, these ions cross the membrane only via various protein structures that are embedded in and span across the lipid cell wall. There are three general types of such transmembrane protein structures that are involved in ion movement across the cell membrane: (1) ion channels; (2) ion exchangers; and (3) ion pumps.1 All are very specific for particular ions. For example, a “sodium channel” is a transmembrane protein structure that allows only Na+ ions to pass into or out of a cell according to the net electrochemical forces acting on Na+ ions.
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The subsequent discussion concentrates on ion channel operation because ion channels (as opposed to transporters and pumps) are responsible for the resting membrane potential and for the rapid changes in membrane potential that constitute the cardiac cell action potential. Ion channels are under complex control and can be “opened,” “closed,” or “inactivated.” The net result of the status of membrane channels to a particular ion is commonly referred to as the membrane’s permeability to that ion. For example, “high permeability to sodium” implies that many of the Na+ ion channels are in their open state at that instant. Precise timing of the status of ion channels accounts for the characteristic membrane potential changes that occur when cardiac cells are activated.
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Figure 2–1 shows how ion concentration differences can generate an electrical potential across the cell membrane. Consider first, as shown at the top of this figure, a cell that (1) has K+ more concentrated inside the cell than outside, (2) is permeable only to K+ (ie, only K+ channels are open), and (3) has no initial transmembrane potential. Because of the concentration difference, K+ ions (positive charges) will diffuse out of the cell. Meanwhile, negative charges, such as protein anions, cannot leave the cell because the membrane is impermeable to them. Thus, the K+ efflux will make the cytoplasm at the inside surface of the cell membrane more electrically negative (deficient in positively charged ions) and at the same time make the interstitial fluid just outside the cell membrane more electrically positive (rich in positively charged ions). K+ ion, being positively charged, is attracted to regions of electrical negativity. Therefore, when K+ diffuses out of a cell, it creates an electrical potential across the membrane that tends to attract it back into the cell. There exists one membrane potential called the potassium equilibrium potential at which the electrical forces tending to pull K+ into the cell exactly balance the concentration forces tending to drive K+ out. When the membrane potential has this value, there is no net movement of K+ across the membrane. With the normal concentrations of approximately 145 mM K+ inside cells and 4 mM K+ in the extracellular fluid, the K+ equilibrium potential is roughly −90 mV (more negative inside than outside by nine-hundredths of a volt).2 A membrane that is permeable only to K+ will inherently and rapidly (essentially instantaneously) develop the potassium equilibrium potential. In addition, membrane potential changes require the movement of so few ions that concentration differences are not significantly affected by the process.
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As depicted in the bottom half of Figure 2–1, similar reasoning shows how a membrane permeable only to Na+ would have the sodium equilibrium potential across it. The sodium equilibrium potential is approximately +70 mV, with the normal extracellular Na+ concentration of 140 mM and intracellular Na+ concentration of 10 mM. Real cell membranes, however, are never permeable to just Na+ or just K+. When a membrane is permeable to both of these ions, the membrane potential will lie somewhere between the Na+ equilibrium potential and the K+ equilibrium potential. Just what membrane potential will exist at any instant depends on the relative permeability of the membrane to Na+ and K+.
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The more permeable the membrane is to K+ than to Na+, the closer the membrane potential will be to −90 mV. Conversely, when the permeability to Na+ is high relative to the permeability to K+, the membrane potential will be closer to +70 mV.3 A stable membrane potential that lies between the sodium and potassium equilibrium potentials implies that there is no net current across the membrane. This situation may well be the result of opposite but balanced sodium and potassium currents across the membrane.
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Because of low or unchanging permeability or low concentration, roles played by ions other than Na+ and K+ in determining membrane potential are usually minor and often ignored. However, as discussed later, calcium ions (Ca2+) do participate in the cardiac muscle action potential. Like Na+, Ca2+ is more concentrated outside cells than inside. The equilibrium potential for Ca2+ is approximately +100 mV, and the cell membrane tends to become more positive on the inside when the membrane’s permeability to Ca2+ rises.
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Under resting conditions, most heart muscle cells have membrane potentials that are quite close to the potassium equilibrium potential. Thus, both electrical and concentration gradients favor the entry of Na+ and Ca2+ into the resting cell. However, the very low permeability of the resting membrane to Na+ and Ca2+, in combination with an energy-requiring sodium pump that extrudes Na+ from the cell, prevents Na+ and Ca2+ from gradually accumulating inside the resting cell.4,5
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Cardiac Cell Action Potentials
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Action potentials of cells from different regions of the heart are not identical but have varying characteristics that are important to the overall process of cardiac excitation.
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Some cells within a specialized conduction system have the ability to act as pacemakers and to spontaneously initiate action potentials, whereas ordinary cardiac muscle cells do not (except under unusual conditions). Basic membrane electrical features of an ordinary cardiac muscle cell and a cardiac pacemaker-type cell are shown in Figure 2–2. Action potentials from these cell types are referred to as “fast-response” and “slow-response” action potentials, respectively.
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As shown in
Figure 2–2A, fast-response action potentials are characterized by a rapid depolarization (phase 0) with a substantial overshoot (positive inside voltage), a rapid reversal of the overshoot potential (phase 1), a long plateau (phase 2), and a repolarization (phase 3) to a stable, high (ie, large negative) resting membrane potential (phase 4). In comparison, the slow-response action potentials are characterized by a slower initial depolarization phase, a lower amplitude overshoot, a shorter and less stable plateau phase, and a repolarization to an unstable, slowly depolarizing “resting” potential (
Figure 2–2B). The unstable resting potential seen in pacemaker cells with slow-response action potentials is variously referred to as
phase 4 depolarization,
diastolic depolarization, or
pacemaker potential. Such cells are usually found in the sinoatrial (SA) and atrioventricular (AV) nodes.
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As indicated at the bottom of Figure 2–2A, cells are in an absolute refractory state during most of the action potential (ie, they cannot be stimulated to fire another action potential). Near the end of the action potential, the membrane is relatively refractory and can be reexcited only by a larger-than-normal stimulus. This long refractory state precludes summated or tetanic contractions from occurring in normal cardiac muscle. Immediately after the action potential, the membrane is transiently hyperexcitable and is said to be in a “vulnerable” or “supranormal” period. Similar alterations in membrane excitability occur during slow action potentials but are not well characterized at present.
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Recall that the membrane potential of any cell at any given instant depends on the relative permeability of the cell membrane to specific ions. As in all excitable cells, cardiac cell
action potentials are the result of transient changes in the ionic permeability of the cell membrane that are triggered by an initial depolarization.
Figure 2–2C and
2–2D indicates the changes in the membrane’s permeabilities to K
+, Na
+, and Ca
2+ that produce the various phases of the fast- and slow-response action potentials.
6 Note that during the resting phase, the membranes of both types of cells are more permeable to K
+ than to Na
+ or Ca
2+. Therefore, the membrane potentials are close to the potassium equilibrium potential (of −90 mV) during this period.
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In pacemaker-type cells, at least three mechanisms are thought to contribute to the slow depolarization of the membrane observed during the diastolic interval. First, there is a progressive decrease in the membrane’s permeability to K
+ during the resting phase, and second, the permeability to Na
+ increases slowly. This gradual increase in the Na
+/K
+ permeability ratio will cause the membrane potential to move slowly away from the K
+ equilibrium potential (−90 mV) in the direction of the Na
+ equilibrium potential. Third, there is a slight increase in the permeability of the membrane to calcium ions late in diastole, which results in an inward movement of these positively charged ions and also contributes to the diastolic depolarization. These permeability changes result in a specific current that occurs during diastole called the
i-funny (
if) current.
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When the membrane potential depolarizes to a certain threshold potential in either type of cell, major rapid alterations in the permeability of the membrane to specific ions are triggered. Once initiated, these permeability changes cannot be stopped and they proceed to completion.
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The characteristic rapid rising phase of the fast-response action potential is a result of a sudden increase in Na+ permeability. This produces what is referred to as the fast inward current of Na+ and causes the membrane potential to move rapidly toward the sodium equilibrium potential. As indicated in Figure 2–2C, this period of very high sodium permeability (phase 0) is short-lived.7 Development and maintenance of a depolarized plateau state (phase 2) is accomplished by the interactions of at least two separate processes: (1) a sustained reduction in K+ permeability and (2) a slowly developed and sustained increase in the membrane’s permeability to Ca2+. In addition, under certain conditions, the electrogenic action of a Na+–Ca2+ exchanger (in which 3 Na+ ions move into the cell in exchange for a single Ca2+ ion moving out of the cell) may contribute to the maintenance of the plateau phase of the cardiac action potential.
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The initial fast inward current is small (or even absent) in cells that have slow-response action potentials (Figure 2–2D). Therefore, the initial depolarization phase of these action potentials is somewhat slower than that of the fast-response action potentials and is primarily a result of an inward movement of Ca2+ ions. In both types of cells, the membrane is repolarized (during phase 3) to its original resting potential as the K+ permeability increases to its high resting value and the Ca2+ and Na+ permeabilities return to their low resting values. These late permeability changes produce what is referred to as the delayed outward current.
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The overall smoothly graded permeability changes that produce action potentials are the net result of alterations in each of the many individual ion channels within the plasma membrane of a single cell.
8 These ion channels are generally made up of very long polypeptide chains that loop repeatedly across the cell membrane. These loops form a hollow conduction channel between the intracellular and extracellular fluids that are structurally quite specific for a particular ion. The open/closed status of the channels can be altered by configurational changes in certain subunits of the molecules within the channel (referred to as “gates” or plugs) so that when open, ions move down their electrochemical gradient either into or out of the cell (high permeability).
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The specific mechanisms that control the operation of these channels during the action potential are not fully understood. Certain types of channels are called voltage-gated channels (or voltage-operated channels) because their probability of being open varies with membrane potential. Other types of channels, called ligand-gated channels (or receptor-operated channels), are activated by certain neurotransmitters or other specific signal molecules. Table 2–1 lists some of the major important currents and channel types involved in cardiac cell electrical activity.
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Some of the voltage-gated channels respond to a sudden-onset, sustained change in membrane potential by only a brief period of activation. However, changes in membrane potential of slower onset, but the same magnitude, may fail to activate these channels at all. To explain such behavior, it is postulated that these channels have 2 independently operating “gates”—an activation gate and an inactivation gate—both of which must be open for the channel as a whole to be open. Both these gates respond to changes in membrane potential but do so with different voltage sensitivities and time courses.
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These concepts are illustrated in
Figure 2–3. In the resting state, with the membrane polarized to approximately −80 mV, the activation (or
m) gate of the fast Na
+ channel is closed, but its inactivation (or
h) gate is open (
Figure 2–3A). With a rapid depolarization of the membrane to threshold, the Na
+ channels will be activated strongly to allow an inrush of positive sodium ions that further depolarizes the membrane and thus accounts for the rising phase of a “fast” response action potential, as illustrated in
Figure 2–3B. This occurs because the
activation gate responds to membrane depolarization by opening more quickly than the
inactivation gate responds by closing. Thus, a small initial rapid depolarization to threshold is followed by a brief, but strong, period of Na
+ channel activation wherein the
activation gate is open but the
inactivation gate is yet to close. Within a few milliseconds, however, the inactivation gates of the fast sodium channels close and shut off the inward movement of Na
+.
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After a brief delay, the large membrane depolarization of the rising phase of the fast action potential causes the activation (or d) gate of the Ca2+ channel to open. This permits the slow inward movement of Ca2+ ions, which helps maintain the depolarization through the plateau phase of the action potential (Figure 2–3C). Ultimately, repolarization occurs because of both a delayed inactivation of the Ca2+ channel (by closure of the inactivation (or f) gates) and a delayed opening of K+ channels (which are not shown in Figure 2–3).
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Multiple factors influence the operation of K+ channels. For example, high intracellular Ca2+ concentration during systole contributes to activation of certain K+ channels and increases the rate of repolarization. The inactivation gates of sodium channels remain closed during the remainder of the action potential, effectively inactivating the Na+ channel. This sustained sodium channel inactivation, combined with activation of calcium channels and the delay in opening of potassium channels, accounts for the long plateau phase and the long cardiac refractory period, which lasts until the end of phase 3. With repolarization, both gates of the sodium channel return to their original position and the channel is now ready to be reactivated by a subsequent depolarization.
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The slow-response action potential shown in the right half of Figure 2–3 differs from the fast-response action potential primarily because of the lack of a strong activation of the fast Na+ channel at its onset. This accounts for the slow rate of rise of the action potential in these cells. The slow diastolic depolarization that occurs in these pacemaker-type cells is primarily a result of an inward current flowing through an isoform of the family of hyperpolarization-activated, cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels. These channels are activated at the end of the repolarization phase and promote a slow sodium and calcium influx that gradually depolarizes the cells during diastole. This slow diastolic depolarization gives the inactivating h gates of many of the fast sodium channels time to close before threshold is even reached (Figure 2–3D). Thus, in a slow-response action potential, there is no initial period where all the fast sodium channels of a cell are essentially open at once. The depolarization beyond threshold during the rising phase of the action potential in these “pacemaker” cells is slow and caused primarily by the influx of Ca2+ through slow channels (Figure 2–3E).
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Although cells in certain areas of the heart typically have fast-type action potentials and cells in other areas normally have slow-type action potentials, it is important to recognize that all cardiac cells are potentially capable of having either type of action potential, depending on their maximum resting membrane potential and how fast they depolarize to the threshold potential. As we shall see, rapid depolarization to the threshold potential is usually an event forced on a cell by the occurrence of an action potential in an adjacent cell. Slow depolarization to threshold occurs when a cell itself spontaneously and gradually loses its resting polarization, which normally happens only in the SA or AV node. A chronic moderate depolarization of the resting membrane (caused, eg, by moderately high extracellular K+ concentrations of 5-7 mM) can inactivate the fast channels (by closing the h gates) without inactivating the slow Ca2+ channels. Under these conditions, all cardiac cell action potentials will be of the slow type. Large, sustained depolarizations (as might be caused by very high extracellular K+ concentration such as more than 8 mM), however, can inactivate both the fast and slow channels and thus make the cardiac muscle cells completely inexcitable.
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Conduction of Cardiac Action Potentials
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Action potentials are conducted over the surface of individual cells because active depolarization in any one area of the membrane produces local currents in the intracellular and extracellular fluids. These currents passively depolarize immediately adjacent areas of the membrane to their voltage thresholds to initiate an action potential at this new site.
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In the heart, cardiac muscle cells are branching and connected end to end to neighboring cells by structures called intercalated disks. These disks contain the following: (1) firm mechanical attachments between adjacent cell membranes by proteins called adherins in structures called desmosomes and (2) low-resistance electrical connections between adjacent cells through channels formed by proteins called connexin in structures called gap junctions. Figure 2–4 shows schematically how these gap junctions allow action potential propagation from cell to cell.
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Cells B, C, and D are shown in the resting phase with more negative charges inside than outside. Cell A is shown in the plateau phase of an action potential and has more positive charges inside than outside. Because of the gap junctions, electrostatic attraction can cause a local current flow (ion movement) between the depolarized membrane of active cell A and the polarized membrane of resting cell B, as indicated by the arrows in the figure. This ion movement depolarizes the membrane of cell B. Once the local currents from active cell A depolarize the membrane of cell B near the gap junction to the threshold level, an action potential will be triggered at that site and will be conducted over cell B. Because cell B branches (a common morphological characteristic of cardiac muscle fibers), its action potential will evoke action potentials on cells C and D. This process is continued through the entire myocardium. Thus, an action potential initiated at any site in the myocardium will be conducted from cell to cell throughout the entire myocardium.
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The speed at which an action potential propagates through a region of cardiac tissue is called the conduction velocity. The conduction velocity varies considerably in different areas in the heart and is determined by three variables. (1) Conduction velocity is directly dependent on the diameter of the muscle fiber involved. Thus, conduction over small-diameter cells in the AV node is significantly slower than conduction over large-diameter cells in the ventricular Purkinje system. (2) Conduction velocity is also directly dependent on the intensity of the local depolarizing currents, which are in turn directly determined by the rate of rise of the action potential. Rapid action potential depolarization favors rapid conduction to the neighboring segment or cell. (3) Conduction velocity is dependent on the capacitive and/or resistive properties of the cell membranes, gap junctions, and cytoplasm. Electrical characteristics of gap junctions can be influenced by external conditions that promote phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of the connexin proteins.
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Details of the overall consequences of the cardiac conduction system are shown in Figure 2–5. As noted earlier, the specific electrical adaptations of various cells in the heart are reflected in the characteristic shape of their action potentials that are shown in the right half of Figure 2–5. Note that the action potentials shown in Figure 2–5 have been positioned to indicate the time when the electrical impulse that originates in the SA node reaches other areas of the heart. Cells of the SA node act as the heart’s normal pacemaker and determine the heart rate. This is because the slow spontaneous diastolic depolarization of the membrane is normally most rapid in SA nodal cells, and therefore, the cells in this region reach their threshold potential and fire before cells elsewhere.
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The action potential initiated by an SA nodal cell first spreads progressively throughout the branching and interconnected cardiac muscle cells of the atrial wall. Action potentials from cells in two different regions of the atria are shown in
Figure 2–5: one close to the SA node and one more distant from the SA node. Both cells have similarly shaped fast response-type action potentials, but their temporal displacement reflects the fact that it takes some time for the impulse to spread over the atria. As shown in
Figure 2–5, action potential conduction is greatly slowed as it passes through the AV node. This is because of the small size of the AV nodal cells and the slow rate of rise of their action potentials. Since the AV node delays the transfer of the cardiac excitation from the atria to the ventricles, atrial contraction can contribute to ventricular filling before the ventricles begin to contract. Note also that AV nodal cells have a faster spontaneous depolarization during the diastolic period than other cells of the heart except those of the SA node. For this reason, the AV node is sometimes referred to as a
latent pacemaker, and in many pathological situations, it (rather than the SA node) controls the heart rhythm.
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Because of sharply rising action potentials and other factors, such as large cell diameters, electrical conduction is extremely rapid in Purkinje fibers. This allows the Purkinje system to transfer the cardiac impulse to cells in many areas of the ventricle nearly in unison. Action potentials from muscle cells in two areas of the ventricle are shown in Figure 2–5. Because of the high conduction velocity in ventricular tissue, there is only a small discrepancy in their time of onset. Note in Figure 2–5 that the ventricular cells that are the last to depolarize have shorter-duration action potentials and thus are the first to repolarize. The physiological importance of this behavior is not clear, but it does have an influence on the electrocardiograms discussed in Chapter 4.
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Fields of electrical potential caused by the electrical activity of the heart extend through the extracellular fluid of the body and can be measured with electrodes placed on the body surface. Electrocardiography provides a record of how the voltage between two points on the body surface changes with time as a result of the electrical events of the cardiac cycle. At any instant of the cardiac cycle, the electrocardiogram indicates the net electrical field that is the summation of many weak electrical fields being produced by voltage changes occurring on individual cardiac cells at that instant. When a large number of cells are simultaneously depolarizing or repolarizing, large voltages are observed on the electrocardiogram. Because the electrical impulse spreads through the heart tissue in a consistent pathway, the temporal pattern of voltage change recorded between two points on the body surface is also consistent and repeats itself with each heart cycle.
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The lower trace of Figure 2–5 represents a typical recording of the voltage changes normally measured between the right arm and the left leg as the heart goes through two cycles of electrical excitation; this record is called a lead II electrocardiogram and is discussed in detail in Chapter 4. The major features of an electrocardiogram are indicated on this record and include the P wave, the PR interval, the QRS complex, the QT interval, the ST segment, and the T wave. The P wave corresponds to atrial depolarization; the PR interval to the conduction time through the atria and AV node: the QRS complex to ventricular depolarization; the ST segment to the plateau phase of ventricular action potentials; the QT interval to the total duration of ventricular systole; and the T wave to ventricular repolarization. (See Chapter 5 for a further information about electrocardiograms.)
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Control of Heart Beating Rate
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Normal rhythmic contractions of the heart occur because of spontaneous electrical pacemaker activity (automaticity) of cells in the SA node. The interval between heartbeats (and thus the heart rate) is determined by how long it takes the membranes of these pacemaker cells to spontaneously depolarize during the diastolic interval to the threshold level. The SA nodal cells fire at a spontaneous or intrinsic rate (≈100 beats/min) in the absence of any outside influences. Outside influences are required, however, to increase or decrease automaticity from its intrinsic level.
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The two most important outside influences on automaticity of SA nodal cells come from the autonomic nervous system. Fibers from both the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic system terminate on cells in the SA node, and these fibers can modify the intrinsic heart rate. Activating the cardiac sympathetic nerves (increasing cardiac sympathetic
tone) increases the heart rate. Increasing the cardiac parasympathetic tone slows the heart rate. As shown in
Figure 2–6, both the parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves influence the heart rate by altering the course of spontaneous diastolic depolarization of the resting potential in SA pacemaker cells.
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Cardiac parasympathetic fibers, which travel to the heart through the vagus nerves, release the transmitter substance acetylcholine on SA nodal cells. Acetylcholine increases the permeability of the resting membrane to K+ and decreases the diastolic if current flowing through the HCN channels.9 As indicated in Figure 2–6, these changes have two effects on the resting potential of cardiac pacemaker cells: (1) they cause an initial hyperpolarization of the resting membrane potential by bringing it closer to the K+ equilibrium potential and (2) they slow the rate of spontaneous depolarization of the resting membrane. Both of these effects increase the time between beats by prolonging the time required for the resting membrane to depolarize to the threshold level. Because there is normally some continuous tonic activity of cardiac parasympathetic nerves, the normal resting heart rate is approximately 70 beats/min.
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Sympathetic nerves release the transmitter substance norepinephrine on cardiac cells. In addition to other effects discussed later, norepinephrine acts on SA nodal cells to increase the inward currents (if) carried by Na+and by Ca2+ through the HCN channels during the diastolic interval.10 These changes will increase the heart rate by increasing the rate of diastolic depolarization as shown in Figure 2–6.
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In addition to sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves, there are many (albeit usually less important) factors that can alter the heart rate. These include a number of ions and circulating hormones, as well as physical influences such as body temperature and atrial wall stretch. All act by somehow altering the time required for the resting membrane to depolarize to the threshold potential. An abnormally high concentration of Ca2+ in the extracellular fluid, for example, tends to decrease the heart rate by shifting the threshold potential. Factors that increase the heart rate are said to have a positive chronotropic effect. Those that decrease the heart rate have a negative chronotropic effect.
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Besides their effect on the heart rate, autonomic fibers also influence the conduction velocity of action potentials through the heart. Increases in sympathetic activity increase conduction velocity (have a positive dromotropic effect), whereas increases in parasympathetic activity decrease conduction velocity (have a negative dromotropic effect). These dromotropic effects are primarily a result of autonomic influences on the initial rate of depolarization of the action potential and/or influences on conduction characteristics of gap junctions between cardiac cells. These effects are most notable at the AV node and can influence the duration of the PR interval.
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1 “Channels” can be thought of as passive ion-specific holes in the membrane through which a particular ion will move according to the electrochemical forces acting on it. “Exchangers” are passive devices that couple the movement of two or more specific ions across the membrane according to the collective net electrochemical forces acting on all the ions involved. “Pumps” use the chemical energy of splitting ATP to move ions across the cell membrane against prevailing electrochemical forces.
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2 The equilibrium potential (Eeq) for any ion (Xz) where z is the ion’s charge is determined by its intracellular and extracellular concentrations as indicated in the Nernst equation:
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3 A quantitative description of how Na+ and K+ concentrations and the relative permeability (PNa/PK) to these ions affect membrane potential (Em) is given by the following equation:
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4 The sodium pump not only removes Na+ from the cell but also pumps K+ into the cell. Because more Na+ is pumped out than K+ is pumped in (3:2), the pump is said to be electrogenic. The resting membrane potential becomes slightly less negative than normal when the pump is abruptly inhibited.
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5 The steep sodium gradient also promotes Ca2+ removal from the cytoplasm via a Na+–Ca2+ exchanger.
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6 The membrane’s permeability to a particular ion is not synonymous with the transmembrane current of that ion. The transmembrane current of any ion is the product of the membrane’s permeability to it times the electrochemical driving forces acting on it. For example, the resting membrane is quite permeable to K+ but there is little net K+ movement because the resting membrane potential is very close to the potassium equilibrium potential.
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7 This is followed by a very brief increase in potassium permeability (not shown in Figure 2–2C) that allows a brief outward going potassium current (iTo) that contributes to the early repolarization (phase 1).
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8 The experimental technique of patch clamping has made it possible to study the operation of individual ion channels. The patch clamp data indicate that a single channel is either open or closed at any instant in time; there are no graded states of partial opening. What is graded is the percentage of time that a given channel spends in the open state, and the total number of channels that are currently in an open state.
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9Acetylcholine interacts with muscarinic receptors on the SA nodal cell membrane that in turn are linked to inhibitory G proteins, Gi. The activation of Gi has two effects: (1) an increase in K+ conductance resulting from an increased opening of the KAch channels; and (2) a suppression of adenylate cyclase leading to a fall in intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate, which reduces the inward-going pacemaker current (if).
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10Norepinephrine interacts with β1-adrenergic receptors on the SA nodal cell membrane that in turn are linked to stimulatory G proteins, Gs. The activation of Gs increases adenylate cyclase, leading to an increase in intracellular cyclic AMP that increases the open-state probability of the HCN channel and increases the if current.