Gap junctions, connexins and sudden death caused by coronary heart disease.
- Author:
Shi-wei ZHANG
1
;
Xin-shan CHEN
;
Shi-xin LIU
;
Yigu ZHANG
Author Information
1. Faculty of Forensic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China. sea-way_zhang@163.com
- Publication Type:Review
- MeSH:
Animals;
Cell Communication/physiology*;
Connexins/metabolism*;
Coronary Disease/complications*;
Death, Sudden/etiology*;
Gap Junctions/metabolism*;
Humans;
Immunohistochemistry;
Myocardium/pathology*
- From:
Journal of Forensic Medicine
2004;20(4):250-252
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Gap junctions construct hydrophilic trans-membrane channels which adjust the intercellular communication of chemistry and electricity. In the heart, individual cardiac myocytes are linked by gap junctions. These junctions form low resistance pathways along which the electrical impulse flows rapidly and repeatedly between all the myocardium, ensuring their synchronous contraction. In recent years, some researchers have found that connexins, the protein molecules of gap junction channels, are reduced in number or redistributed from intercalated disks (ID) to lateral cell borders in a variety of cardiac disease, especially in ischemic heart disease. The gap junction remodeling is considered to be arrhythmogenic. These findings will lead us to a new realm in the diagnostic of sudden death caused by coronary heart disease.
