Atrial fibrillation, the most common heart arrhythmia observed in the clinic, occurs when the heart's normal pacemaker activity is disrupted by an aberrant electrical stimulus that in many cases originates in the pulmonary veins. Although individuals with cardiovascular disease are often affected, atrial fibrillation can also arise in healthy folks, and the cellular mechanisms that launch and maintain it are not fully understood. To date, research and treatment efforts have focused on pulmonary vein myocytes as the source of the electrical activity that triggers atrial arrhythmias.
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