Abstract According to the American Heart Association it is estimated that the United States
will spend close to $39 billion in 2010 to treat over five million Americans suffering from …

Endothelin‐1 (ET‐1) is a critical autocrine and paracrine regulator of cardiac physiology and
pathology. Produced locally within the myocardium in response to diverse mechanical and …

During the classic “fight-or-flight” stress response, sympathetic nervous system activation
leads to catecholamine release, which increases heart rate and contractility, resulting in …

Aims Sino-atrial node (SAN) automaticity is an essential mechanism of heart rate generation
that is still not completely understood. Recent studies highlighted the importance of …

The abrupt cessation of effective cardiac function due to an aberrant heart rhythm can cause
sudden and unexpected death at any age, a syndrome called sudden cardiac death (SCD) …

Although well documented drug therapies are available for the management of ventricular
hypertrophy (VH) and heart failure (HF), most patients nonetheless experience a downhill …

Aims In heart cells, the mechanisms underlying refractoriness of the elementary units of
sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ release, Ca2+ sparks, remain unclear. We investigated …

Cardiac contractile function depends on coordinated electrical activation throughout the
heart. Dyssynchronous electrical activation of the ventricles has been shown to contribute to …

The proper expression and function of the cardiac pacemaker is a critical feature of heart
physiology. The sinoatrial node (SAN) in human right atrium generates an electrical …

In sinoatrial node cells of the heart, beating rate is controlled, in part, by local Ca 2+ releases
(LCRs) from the sarcoplasmic reticulum, which couple to the action potential via electrogenic …