Afib triggered by a cell that resembles a pigment-producing skin cell

The source and mechanisms underlying the abnormal heart beats that initiate atrial fibrillation (Afib), the most common type of abnormal heart beat, have not been well determined. However, a group of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, has now identified a population of cells that are like pigment producing cells in the skin (melanocytes) in the atria of the heart and pulmonary veins of mice and humans and uncovered evidence in mice that these cells contribute to Afib.

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