Premium
Old cogs, new tricks: A scaffolding role for connexin43 and a junctional role for sodium channels?
Author(s) -
Veeraraghavan Rengasayee,
Poelzing Steven,
Gourdie Robert G.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2014.01.026
Subject(s) - sodium channel , chemistry , scaffold , biophysics , neuroscience , microbiology and biotechnology , scaffold protein , sodium , medicine , biology , biochemistry , signal transduction , biomedical engineering , organic chemistry
Cardiac conduction is the process by which electrical excitation is communicated from cell to cell within the heart, triggering synchronous contraction of the myocardium. The role of conduction defects in precipitating life‐threatening arrhythmias in various disease states has spurred scientific interest in the phenomenon. While the understanding of conduction has evolved greatly over the last century, the process has largely been thought to occur via movement of charge between cells via gap junctions. However, it has long been hypothesized that electrical coupling between cardiac myocytes could also occur ephaptically, without direct transfer of ions between cells. This review will focus on recent insights into cardiac myocyte intercalated disk ultrastructure and their implications for conduction research, particularly the ephaptic coupling hypothesis.