Document Detail


Optical recording of impulse propagation in designer cultures. Cardiac tissue architectures inducing ultra-slow conduction.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  10881747     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
It has long been established that slow conduction constitutes one of the key mechanisms in the generation of cardiac arrhythmias. Also, it has been recognized that alterations in the cellular architecture of cardiac tissue can contribute to slow conduction. Based on the recent development of an experimental system permitting both the design of geometrically defined cardiac tissue structures in culture and the measurement of impulse propagation at the cellular level, we investigated the extent of conduction slowing along a tissue structure consisting of a cell strand releasing multiple side branches. This structure, which can functionally be looked upon as a series of interconnected current-to-load mismatches, gave rise to ultra-slow conduction (1-2 cm/s) that displayed a high margin of safety due to a "pull" and "push" effect exerted by the side branches on electrotonic current flow along the main strand. Under physiological conditions, such branching structures might contribute to slow conduction in the AV-node and, under pathophysiological conditions, to the precipitation of reentrant arrhythmias within minuscule tissue regions in a structurally remodeled myocardium. The results illustrate that the combination of patterned growth techniques and optical recording of transmembrane voltage are ideally suited to characterize systematically the relationship between tissue structure and impulse conduction.
Authors:
S Rohr; A G Kléber; J P Kucera
Related Documents :
2661547 - Depression, heart disease, and tricyclic antidepressants.
16630087 - Fragmented left sided qrs in absence of bundle branch block: sign of left ventricular a...
1725317 - Electrophysiological effects of endothelin-1 on canine myocardial cells.
1175257 - Observations on patients with primary ventricular fibrillation complicating acute myoca...
21600537 - Usefulness of plasma galectin-3 levels in systolic heart failure to predict renal insuf...
8281637 - Intramural myocardial shortening in hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy with norm...
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Review    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Trends in cardiovascular medicine     Volume:  9     ISSN:  1050-1738     ISO Abbreviation:  Trends Cardiovasc. Med.     Publication Date:  1999 Oct 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2000-08-09     Completed Date:  2000-08-09     Revised Date:  2008-11-21    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9108337     Medline TA:  Trends Cardiovasc Med     Country:  UNITED STATES    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  173-9     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology, University of Bern, Switzerland.
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Action Potentials / physiology
Animals
Cells, Cultured
Electrophysiology
Gap Junctions / physiology
Heart Conduction System / physiology*
Myocardium / cytology
Optics and Photonics

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Primary lumbosacral Wilms tumour associated with occult spinal dysraphism.
Next Document:  Mechanism of cardiac fibrosis by angiotensin. New insight revealed by genetic engineering.