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Myocardial Injury pp 1–23Cite as

The Possibility of Propagation between Myocardial Cells not Connected by Low-Resistance Pathways

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Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 161))

Abstract

The vertebrate myocardium is an assembly of short individual cells, separated at their ends by the intercalated disks (ID). The fluid in the ID gap is continuous with the bulk interstitial fluid, and the gap thickness averages about 200 A (Sperelakis and Rubio, 1971). Regions in which the two membranes come into closer proximity (about 20 A), the gap junctions, are found abundantly in mammalian hearts, but such specialized contacts are rare and much smaller in area in lower vertebrates (for references, see Sperelakis, 1979). A step on the rising phase of the action potential, resembling a post-junctional potential, becomes prominent under conditions of impeded propagation (Hoshiko and Sperelakis, 1962). Increase in gap width occurs in conditions that depress propagation (see Sperelakis, 1979), and the cell-to-cell transmission process is labile (Sperelakis and Hoshiko, 1961; Sperelakis, 1969). Contiguous cells become functionally disconnected at the IDs following focal injury (De Mello, 1972) and under other experimental conditions (see review by Sperelakis, 1979).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physiology Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22908, USA

    Nick Sperelakis

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  1. Nick Sperelakis
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

    John J. Spitzer

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© 1983 Plenum Press, New York

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Sperelakis, N. (1983). The Possibility of Propagation between Myocardial Cells not Connected by Low-Resistance Pathways. In: Spitzer, J.J. (eds) Myocardial Injury. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 161. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4472-8_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4472-8_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-4474-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-4472-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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