India, March 6 -- Researchers at The University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust have discovered a backup natural pacemaker, which is able to generate a pulse and control the heart rate.

The British Heart Foundation funded study 'completely changes our understanding' of the heart's anatomy and has important implications on the work of cardiologists and heart surgeons.

As part of the study, published in Frontiers in Physiology, University scientists carried out research involving 15 goats.

Subsequent data analysis found that a 'subsidiary atrial pacemaker' (SAP) takes over from the nearby sinoatrial, or SA Node, the primary way the heart generates electrical signals that make it beat, when it fails.

Lead aut...