Electrophysiological Properties

of Cardiac Myocytes

1) Automaticity
2) Conductivity
3) Excitability
4) Contraction
 1) Automaticity
i. Normal:
• Automaticity is the ability to initiate its own beat.
• High to low rhythmicity:
Sinus node, interatrial tract, internodal tract, atrial-ventricular
node, intraventricular tracts, purkinje cells.

• Pacemaker: SA node ,which has the highest rhythmicity.

 ii. Abnormal:

• Ectopic pacemaker: other regions of the heart that

initiate beats under special circumstances are called ectopic
pacemaker.

• When:
a. Their own rhythmicity becomes enhanced;
b. The rhythmicity of the higher order becomes depressed;
c. Conduction pathways with a higher degree of rhythmicity
become blocked.
 2) Conductivity

i. Normal:

• Specialized conducting system: consists of

SA node, interatrial tracts, internodal tract, atrial-

ventricular node, intraventricular tracts, purkinje cells.

 Normal AP Conduction in
Sino-Atrial (SA) the Heart
Node Atrio-Ventricular
(AV) Node

Bundle
of HIS

Left Bundle
Right Bundle Branch
Branch

Electrical Pathways Purkinje fibers

 ii. Abnormal:

• Conduction block:

a. Sinoatrial block;

b. Atrioventricular block;
 3) Excitability

i. Normal:

•Refractory of Cardiac myocytes

a. Effective refractory period

b. Relative refractory period
c. Supernormal period
a. Effective refractory period

 phase 0 to –60mV.

No matter how

strong the stimulus

is, it cannot produce

action potential.
b. Relative refractory period:

 -60mV to –80mV.
With a stronger
stimulus than
normal an action
potential may be
evoked.
c. Supernormal period

-80 to –90mV. The

threshold for

excitaiton is slightly

lower than normal.

Long refractory (250ms) overlays with
almost total duration of contraction
 Significance:

The long refractory period means that cardiac

muscle cannot be restimulated until contraction is
almost over & this makes summation of cardiac
muscle impossible. This is a valuable protective
mechanism because pumping requires alternate
periods of contraction & relaxation.
ii. Abnormal:

• premature systole
• Compensatory pause
Premature systole: If the cardiac muscle is
stimulated by an extra stimulus given in the
relative refractory period, it can contract earlier.
This contraction is called premature systole.
During the contraction, premature systole can

not be evoked by the electric stimulus because

of the effective refractory period.

Compensatory pause: The extra stimulus
did not disturb the natural rhythm of the
normal pacemaker and a prolonged
interval, the compensatory pause,
followed the extrasystole.
The reason for the compensatory pause after
a extrasystole is that the cardiac impulse
from the normal pacemaker is blocked by the
refractory period of the ventricle induced by
the extrasystole, and the following ventricular
contraction does not occur. After the
compensatory pause, the normal pacemaker
resumes its control.
 4) Contraction

Most of the muscle cells in the heart are

contractile cells, which can make the atria and

ventricle to systole and diastole.

The Beat of a Single Cell
3.Electrocardiogram (ECG)

1) Definition
2) Normal ECG
 1) Definition

With an electrocardiograph, electrical activity

of the heart can be recorded from the surface of
the body. This electrical activity is called
electrocardiogram(ECG). That is to say, ECG is
the record of spread of electrical activity through
the heart .
 At any instant of the cardiac cycle the ECG
indicates the net electrical field that is the
summation of many weak elcetrical fields being
produced by individual cardiac cells at that
instant. When a large number of cells are
simultaneously depolarizing or repolarizing ,large
voltages are observed on ECG.
2)Normal ECG
P wave = caused by atrial depolarization
QRS complex = caused by ventricular depolarization
T wave = caused by ventricular repolarization
ECG = useful in diagnosing abnormal heart rates,
arrhythmias, & damage of heart muscle .
Start of ECG Cycle
Early P Wave
Later in P Wave
Early QRS
Later in QRS
S-T Segment
Early T Wave
Later in T-Wave
Back to where we started
Abnormal EKGs