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Circulation Research. 2004;94:585-591
doi: 10.1161/01.RES.0000121575.34653.50
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(Circulation Research. 2004;94:585.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.


Reviews

Effects of Mechanical Forces and Mediators of Hypertrophy on Remodeling of Gap Junctions in the Heart

Jeffrey E. Saffitz, André G. Kléber

From the Center for Cardiovascular Research and the Department of Pathology (J.E.S.), Washington University, St Louis, Mo, and Department of Physiology (A.G.K.), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

Correspondence to André G. Kléber, MD, Department of Physiology, University of Bern, Bühlplatz 5, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland. E-mail kleber{at}pyl.unibe.ch

This Review is part of a thematic series on Mechanotransduction and Signaling in Myocardium, which includes the following articles:

Role of the Integrins in Endothelial Mechanosensing of Shear Stress

Dance Band on the Titanic: Biomechanical Signaling in Cardiac Hypertrophy

Spatial Microstimuli in Endothelial Mechanosignaling

Effects of Mechanical Forces and Mediators of Hypertrophy on Remodeling of Gap Junctions in the Heart
Peter F. Davies Guest Editor

This review article focuses on remodeling of gap junctions in response to chemical mediators of ventricular hypertrophy, mechanical forces, and alterations in cell-to-cell adhesion. Signaling mediated by mechanical forces is likely to be involved in the upregulation of cardiac gap junctions during the early phase of cardiac hypertrophy and the subsequent downregulation in cardiac failure. Several signaling pathways involving cAMP, angiotensin II, transforming growth factor-ß, vascular endothelial growth factor, and integrin-mediated regulators have been shown to affect expression of gap junction proteins. However, a comprehensive view of regulation of gap junction trafficking, synthesis, and degradation is still lacking. In addition to gap junction regulation by extracellular mechanical forces, there is a close relation between gap junctions and adhesion junctions and their linkage to the cytoskeleton. This can be inferred from experiments on neoformation of cell-to-cell coupling, concomitant upregulation of adherens and gap junctions after mechanical stretch, and human cardiomyopathies caused by genetic defects in cell-cell adhesion junction proteins. The molecular mechanisms responsible for the interaction between mechanical and functional cell-to-cell coupling remain to be elucidated.


Key Words: gap junctions • adhesion junctions • mechanical signaling • remodeling • cardiac hypertrophy and failure




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