What property allows cardiac cells to transmit an electrical impulse?

The property that allows cardiac cells to transmit an electrical impulse is conductivity. In the context of the heart, conductivity refers to the ability of cardiac cells, especially those in specialized tissues such as the sinoatrial node, atrioventricular node, and the conducting pathways (like the bundle of His and Purkinje fibers), to propagate electrical signals from one area to another. This propagation is crucial for the coordinated contraction of the heart, enabling it to pump blood effectively.

Cardiac cells have a unique structure that allows them to communicate with each other quickly and efficiently through intercalated discs, which contain gap junctions. These gap junctions facilitate the rapid spread of depolarization from cell to cell, leading to a synchronous contraction of the heart muscle.

Other options are essential physiological processes but do not directly relate to the ability to transmit an electrical impulse in the same manner. For instance, excitability refers to the ability of a cell to respond to a stimulus and initiate an action potential, while contractility pertains to the ability of the cardiac muscle fibers to shorten and generate force. Refractoriness relates to the period following an action potential during which the cell cannot be excited again, ensuring that the heart has a rhythm and does not go into tet