Functional role of L-type Cav1.3 Ca2+ channels in cardiac pacemaker activity.

ABSTRACT: The spontaneous activity of pacemaker cells in the sino-atrial node (SAN) controls the heart rhythm and rate under physiological conditions. Pacemaker activity in SAN cells is due to the presence of the diastolic depolarization, a slow depolarization phase that drives the membrane voltage from the end of an action potential to the threshold of a new action potential. SAN cells express a wide array of ionic channels, but we have limited knowledge about their functional role in pacemaker activity and we still do not know which channels play a prominent role in the generation of the diastolic depolarization. It is thus important to provide genetic evidence linking the activity of genes coding for ionic channels to specific alterations of pacemaker activity of SAN cells. Here, we show that tar

SUBMITTER: Mangoni ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC154381 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature