Cardiac conduction system

Cardiac conduction system
Cardiac conduction system
	Components of the heart's conduction system
	Basic representation of cardiac electrical conduction
Details
Identifiers
Latin	systema conducens cordis
MeSH	D006329
TA98	A12.1.06.002
FMA	9476
	Anatomical terminology

The cardiac conduction system (CCS, also called the electrical conduction system of the heart)^[1] transmits the signals generated by the sinoatrial node – the heart's pacemaker, to cause the heart muscle to contract, and pump blood through the body's circulatory system. The pacemaking signal travels through the right atrium to the atrioventricular node, along the bundle of His, and through the bundle branches to Purkinje fibers in the walls of the ventricles. The Purkinje fibers transmit the signals more rapidly to stimulate contraction of the ventricles.^[2]

The conduction system consists of specialized heart muscle cells, situated within the myocardium.^[3] There is a skeleton of fibrous tissue that surrounds the conduction system which can be seen on an ECG. Dysfunction of the conduction system can cause irregular heart rhythms including rhythms that are too fast or too slow.

^ Mantri S, Wu SM, Goodyer WR (July 2021). "Molecular Profiling of the Cardiac Conduction System: the Dawn of a New Era". Curr Cardiol Rep. 23 (8): 103. doi:10.1007/s11886-021-01536-w. PMID 34196831. S2CID 235690734.
^ Cite error: The named reference NIH2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Goodyer, WR; Beyersdorf, BM; Paik, DT; Tian, L; Li, G (2 August 2019). "Transcriptomic Profiling of the Developing Cardiac Conduction System at Single-Cell Resolution". Circulation Research. 125 (4): 379–397. doi:10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.118.314578. PMC 6675655. PMID 31284824.