Phase resetting and annihilation of pacemaker activity in cardiac tissue.
Spontaneous rhythmic activity in isolated cardiac pacemaker cells can be terminated by a brief, subthreshold, depolarizing or hyperpolarizing perturbation of the proper magnitude applied at a specific point in the pacemaker cycle. Evidence is provided in support of a topological theory of the existence of a "singular" point in cardiac oscillators.
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D002417:Cattle; D004285:Dogs; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000502:physiology*; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D010507:Periodicity; D011690:Purkinje Fibers / Q000502:physiology*; D012849:Sinoatrial Node / Q000502:physiology*