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Cardiac Electrophysiology

  • Chapter
Antiarrhythmic Drugs

Part of the book series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology ((HEP,volume 89))

Abstract

The heart may be considered simply as an anatomical network of electrically interconnected cells, through which waves of depolarizing and repolarizing current travel from the sinus node in an orderly and appropriate manner to ensure that all parts contract at the correct time. Clinical electrophysiologists can indentify disorders of rhythm from ECG records and invasive studies with intracardiac recording and stimulating electrodes (Chap. 4). Such investigations, however, tell us nothing of the nature of the ionic currents flowing in and out of individual cells. The heart is regarded merely as a wiring diagram. Alternatively an attempt may be made to identify in vitro the sources of current in terms of concentration differences of ions inside and outside the cells, and to examine how individual currents are switched on and off. Such studies ignore the anatomy of the heart and the vitally important role of the intercellular connections, the “gap” junctions, the number and distribution of which determine the pathway of conduction. In this chapter both approaches to cardiac electrophysiology will be discussed in the hope that a coherent pattern may emerge.

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Authors
  1. E. M. Vaughan Williams
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hertford College, Oxford University, 153 Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 7NA, Great Britain

    E. M. Vaughan Williams Professor Dr.

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Vaughan Williams, E.M. (1989). Cardiac Electrophysiology. In: Vaughan Williams, E.M. (eds) Antiarrhythmic Drugs. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 89. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73666-7_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-73666-7_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-73668-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-73666-7

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