• Question: Where does the beating of your heart come from?

    Asked by Dwebb1 to Cristina, Gemma, Loan, Michael, Praveen on 12 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by pip.sori, 756hrtd48.
    • Photo: Cristina Villa del Campo

      Cristina Villa del Campo answered on 12 Nov 2015:

      Hi Dwebb,

      The beating cells in our heart are a special type of muscle cell (we call them cardiac myocytes). These cells are special because they beat on their own. If you have them in a dish in the lab they will be beating non-stop. However, in the heart you need the cells to beat at the same time when you need the ventricle to contract for example. To make sure the heart beats properly we have a pacemaker system that makes the heart beat, it’s called cardiac conduction system. If this system doesn’t work you can have an arrhythmia, because your muscle will keep on beating but not in the proper way to get the blood out.

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