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Premotor cardiac vagal neurons originate primarily in the nucleus ambiguus in the ventral brainstem. The axons of these cardioinhibitory preganglionic parasympathetic neurons are within the vagi nerves and synapse upon postganglionic neurons in cardiac ganglia that are in fat pads at the base of the heart. Upon excitation from preganglionic cardiac vagal neurons postganglionic neurons inhibit and control the activity of cardiac pacemaker cells in the sino-atrial node of the heart.
