The architecture of the sinus node, the atrioventricular conduction axis, and the internodal atrial myocardium
R. H. Anderson, S. Y. Ho

It is well established that, following initiation of the impulse in the sinoatrial (S-A) node, propagation through the atrial musculature is asymmetric, demonstrating regions of fast and slow conduction...

Multicentric origin of the atrial depolarization wave: the pacemaker complex. Relation to dynamics of atrial conduction, P-wave changes and heart rate control
J. P. Boineau, R. B. Schuessler, C. R. Mooney, A. C. Wylds, C. B. Miller, R. D. Hudson, J. M. Borremans, C. W. Brockus

Early in this century, anatomical and electrical studies suggested that the sinoatrial (S-A) node was the site of origin of the heartbeat (see Keith and Flack [1907] and Eyster and Meek [1921] summaries in this section)...

Voltage-clamp investigations of membrane currents underlying pace-maker activity in rabbit sino-atrial node
H. Brown, D. DiFrancesco

This paper and another study appearing the same year (see Yanagihara and Irisawa [1980] summary in this section) provided the first detailed analysis of the current known as I f or Ih...

A new interpretation of the pace-maker current in calf Purkinje fibres
D. DiFrancesco

Throughout the seventies, the ionic basis of the pacemaker potential responsible for diastolic depolarization and spontaneous activity in cardiac Purkinje fibers was thought to be well understood...

The origin and conduction of the heart beat
J. A. E. Eyster, W. J. Meek

In the 40 years from 1880 to 1920, numerous electrical and histological studies considerably advanced our understanding of the initiation and propagation of the heartbeat...

The form and nature of the muscular connections between the primary divisions of the vertebrate heart
A. Keith, M. Flack

When Keith and Flack undertook their extensive survey of vertebrate hearts, the site of origin of the human heartbeat was unknown...

Membrane currents in the rabbit sinoatrial node cell as studied by the double microelectrode method
A. Noma, H. Irisawa

To understand the time- and voltage-dependence of specific currents flowing during a cardiac action potential, one must employ the voltage clamp technique (which, by effectively making voltage a constant, eliminates one of the two variables that define the properties of individual ionic channels)...

Identification of a gene encoding a hyperpolarization-activated pacemaker channel of brain
B. Santoro, D. T. Liu, H. Yao, D. Bartsch, E. R. Kandel, S. A. Siegelbaum, G. R. Tibbs

The cardiac pacemaker current, a time-dependent inward current active during diastolic depolarization, was originally coined If because of its “funny” behavior....

The relationship among cardiac pacemakers. Overdrive suppression
M. Vassalle

The sinus node is the normal site of cardiac impulse initiation, and thus serves as the dominant, or primary, cardiac pacemaker...

Inward current activated during hyperpolarization in the rabbit sinoatrial node cell
K. Yanagihara, H. Irisawa

Following the successful application of the twomicroelectrode voltage clamp technique to sinoatrial node tissue (see Noma and Irisawa [1976] summary in this section), there were increased efforts to define the characteristics of the ionic currents present in the mammalian node...