If you cut a nerve in skeletal muscle, this results in paralysis. In contrast, if you cut the nerves to the heart, the beat goes
on (bad joke). What allows for the heart to continue to beat after nerves have been cut (necessary for heart transplants)?
Autorhythmicity
Autorhythmicity is the characteristics feature of heart cardiac cells. Cardiac cells can generate action potential at a certain rate without any external stimulus and thus heart beats continuously and rhythmically even after detached from nerve supply.
Autorhythmicity of heart cell is due to presence of a series of sodium ion channel which allo slow and continued influx of sodium ions resulting into spontaneous depolarization and thus spontaneous action potential.
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