Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Atrioventricular node
Summary
The atrioventricular node or AV node electrically connects the heart's atria and ventricles to coordinate beating in the top of the heart; it is part of the electrical conduction system of the heart. The AV node lies at the lower back section of the interatrial septum near the opening of the coronary sinus, and conducts the normal electrical impulse from the atria to the ventricles. The AV node is quite compact (~1 x 3 x 5 mm).
The AV node lies at the lower back section of the interatrial septum near the opening of the coronary sinus, which conducts the normal electrical impulse from the atria to the ventricles. The AV node is quite compact (~1 x 3 x 5 mm). It is located at the center of Koch's triangle—a triangle enclosed by the septal leaflet of the tricuspid valve, the coronary sinus, and the membranous part of the interatrial septum.
The blood supply of the AV node is from the atrioventricular nodal branch. The origin of this artery is most commonly (80–90% of hearts) a branch of the right coronary artery, with the remainder originating from the left circumflex artery. This is associated with the dominance of the coronary artery circulation. In right-dominant individuals the blood supply is from the right coronary artery while in left dominant individuals it originates from the left circumflex artery.
Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) cell signaling plays a key role in diverse aspects of cardiac differentiation and morphogenesis. (BMPs) are multifunctional signaling molecules critical for the development of AV node. BMP influences AV node development through Alk3 receptor (Activin receptor-like kinase 3). Abnormalities seen in BMP and Alk3 are associated with some cardiovascular diseases like Ebstein’s anomaly and AV conduction disease.
The AV node receives two inputs from the right atrium: posteriorly, via the crista terminalis, and anteriorly, via the interatrial septum.
Contraction of heart muscle cells requires depolarization and repolarization of their cell membranes. Movement of ions across cell membranes causes these events.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.