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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Oct 3.
Published in final edited form as: Circ Res. 2012 Jun 8;110(12):1661–1677. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.111.243956

Figure 5. Oxidized CaMKII leads to SA node cell death and SA node dysfunction.

Figure 5

Under physiological conditions (top) the SA node initiates each heart beat by inducing an inward current of sufficient magnitude to depolarize surrounding atrial myocardium with high fidelity. Activation of NADPH oxidase by angiotensin II leads to CaMKII activation by oxidation and excessive oxidized CaMKII leads to SA node cell apoptosis. SA node dysfunction occurs when SA node cell loss beyond a critical threshold prevents high fidelity capture of surrounding myocardium (bottom).