Study provides insight on a common heart rhyth...(e dysfunction atrial fibrillation and ve...)
e dysfunction, atrial fibrillation and ventricular arrhythmias.
"We were fortunate in this study to assemble an amazing collaboration between outstanding basic science laboratories at the University of Iowa and a group of internationally-renowned clinical electrophysiologists and geneticists in France," he added.
Blood circulation through the body depends on the coordinated contraction of specialized heart cells called ventricular cardiomyocytes. Cells in the sinoatrial node have a different role -- to maintain the heart's normal rhythm.
"There are thousands of ventricular cells in the heart, but there are only hundreds of sinoatrial node cells, so each nodal cell is absolutely critical for every beat of the human heart," Mohler said.
Because there are so few sinoatrial node cells, it has been difficult until recently for scientists to get sample cells from human or animal models, noted Thomas Hund, Ph.D., a member of the study team and University of Iowa associate in internal medicine.
"Building on others' discoveries, scientists in Professor Mohler's Professor Mark Anderson's, and Assistant Professor Long-Sheng Song's lab perfected methods to isolate mouse sinoatrial node cells. We were then able to image these cells and see what was different about them," Hund said.
Based on research previously published by Mohler in 2003 in the journal Nature, the investigators knew that in ventricular cardiomyocytes the protein ankyrin-B behaves like a "tugboat," delivering ion channels and anchoring them to specific domains on the cell membrane. These ion channels serve as conduits for the electrical activity that triggers cell contraction. The team found that ankyrin plays a similar critical role in organizing ion channels for the sinoatrial node cells, making it possible for these cells to maintain the normal heart rhythm.
"Taken together, these studies suggest that ankyrin-B and similar proteins organi
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| Contact: Becky Soglin becky-soglin@uiowa.edu 319-335-6660 University of Iowa Source:Eurekalert |
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