atrioventricular node

American  

noun

Anatomy.

1. a small mass of muscular fibers at the base of the wall between the atria, conducting impulses received from the sinoatrial node by way of the atrioventricular bundles and, under certain conditions, functioning for the sinoatrial node as pacemaker of the heart.

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atrioventricular node Scientific  

/ ā′trē-ō-vĕn-trĭk′yə-lər /

1. A small area of specialized cardiac muscle cells that conducts impulses from the sinoatrial node to the ventricles and initiates the contraction of the ventricles. It is located in the right atrium.

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Etymology

Origin of atrioventricular node

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Electrical charges pulse from the SA node causing the two atria to contract in unison; then the pulse reaches the atrioventricular node between the right atrium and right ventricle.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

The ventricles would contract, but the atria would not, because the atrioventricular node passes the signal to the Purkinje fibers, which allow the ventricles to contract.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

The ventricles would contract, but the atria would not, because the atrioventricular node passes the signal to the Purkinje fibers, which causes the atria to contract.

From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022

Regardless of the pathway, as the impulse reaches the atrioventricular septum, the connective tissue of the cardiac skeleton prevents the impulse from spreading into the myocardial cells in the ventricles except at the atrioventricular node.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

The relative importance of this pathway has been debated since the impulse would reach the atrioventricular node simply following the cell-by-cell pathway through the contractile cells of the myocardium in the atria.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013