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automaticity (aw″to-mә-tisĀ“ĭ-te)   the ability of a cell to depolarize itself, reach threshold potential, and produce a propagated action potential; cells with this capability are called automatic cells.
 

abnormal automaticity  a type of altered automaticity occurring in cells that do not normally possess that property, as in myocardial cells with severely depressed function that have lost their fast sodium channels.

altered automaticity  ectopic automatic firing of myocardial cells; there are two types, enhanced normal automaticity and abnormal automaticity.

enhanced normal automaticity  a type of altered automaticity seen in pacemaker cells, caused by a steepening of phase 4 such as occurs in the presence of excess catecholamines, which causes premature beats to occur.





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