Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Whole-Mount Immunofluorescence Staining, Confocal Imaging and 3D Reconstruction of the Sinoatrial and Atrioventricular Node in the Mouse
Published on: December 22, 2020
At the Atrioventricular Crossroads: Dual Pathway Electrophysiology in the Atrioventricular Node and its Underlying
Sharon A George1, N Rokhaya Faye1, Alejandro Murillo-Berlioz1,2
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, The George Washington University,Washington, DC, USA.
Abstract:
The atrioventricular node (AVN) is a complex structure that performs a variety of functions in the heart. The AVN is primarily an electrical gatekeeper between the atria and ventricles and introduces a delay between atrial and ventricular excitation, allowing for efficient ventricular filling. The AVN is composed of several compartments that safely transmit electrical excitation from the atria to the ventricles via the fast or slow pathways. There are many electrophysiological differences between these pathways, including conduction time and electrical refractoriness, that increase the predisposition of the atrioventricular junction to arrhythmias such as atrioventricular nodal re-entrant tachycardia. These varied electrophysiological characteristics of the fast and slow pathways stem from their unique structural and molecular composition (tissue and cellular geometry, ion channels and gap junctions). This review summarises the structural and molecular heterogeneities of the human AVN and how they result in electrophysiological variations and arrhythmias.
Related Concept Videos
C4 Pathway and CAM
C4 Pathway
The C4 pathway is used by plants such as...
Node Analysis for AC Circuits
To unravel the complexities of this system, nodal analysis is employed, a powerful technique founded on Kirchhoff's current law (KCL), which remains valid for phasors. AC circuits can effectively be...
Other Glycolytic Pathways
Respiration Pathways
Auditory Pathway
When viewed cross-sectionally, the cochlea reveals the scala vestibuli and scala tympani flanking...
ER Retrieval Pathway
The ER uses many checkpoints to prevent the entry of incorrectly folded or a resident protein as cargo onto a transport vesicle. These mechanisms...

