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Each heartbeat starts with an electrical impulse fired by a cluster of cells (called the sinoatrial node) in the right atrium.—Christopher Lee, Verywell Health, 25 Sep. 2024 The heart’s pulse rate can be higher than this number if the sinoatrial node initiates a heartbeat naturally.—Virginia Singla, Discover Magazine, 15 Dec. 2023
: a small mass of tissue that is made up of Purkinje fibers, ganglion cells, and nerve fibers, that is embedded in the musculature of the right atrium of higher vertebrates, and that originates the impulses stimulating the heartbeat
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