心筋細胞のギャップ結合と病態形成への関与

抄録

The intercalated disc contains different junctional complexes, electrical junctions and adhesion junctions. The electrical junctions mediate the spread of electrical excitation through gap junctions, and the adhesion junctions are organized to mediate normal mechanical coupling and play a key role in the formation and stability of gap junctions. Each gap junction hemi–channel is formed by six protein subunits, called connexins, and coordinately changes configuration to open and close the hemi–channel. Adhesion junctions, adherens junction and desmosome have common structure; transmembrane molecules, linker proteins, and cytoskeletal proteins. Gap junction and adhesion junction play an important role in maintaining cell–cell adhesion. Based on these backgrounds, intercalated disc remodeling might be an important arrhythmogenic substrate during the development of heart diseases. Here, this article overviews the functions, signal transduction systems of cardiac intercalated disc (gap junction and adhesion junction). Also, this report provides some findings that show an importance of alterations in intercalated disc proteins as one of arrhythmogenicsubstrates during development of heart diseases.