© 1999 American Heart Association, Inc.
Cardivascular News |
Circulation Research Online Only
July 9, 1999
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Introduction |
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 Top Introduction |
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This new era for Circulation Research is filled with innumerable opportunities for growth in the dynamic environment of Web publishing. The field of cardiovascular research is constantly evolving, and Circulation Research intends to make creative use of the new technology. Thus, we are pleased to announce the launch of online-only UltraRapid Communications as electronic pages in Circulation Research Online. This new category of UltraRapid Communications is designed specifically for the expeditious publication of cutting-edge research.
To denote which articles are published online only, a blue star appears next to the title of the article on the cover, under the heading of Circulation Research Electronic Pages. Further, this blue-bordered page displays the full abstract in the print issue; the full-length article can be accessed at www. circresaha.org. UltraRapid Communications can be cited in the same way as other articles that appear in the printed journal and will be tracked in Index Medicus, MEDLINE, PubMed, and other indexing services. This article and all future online-only articles will be denoted on the Table of Contents as e-pages.
UltraRapid Communication
Distribution and Prevalence of Hyperpolarization-Activated Cation Channel (HCN) mRNA Expression in Cardiac Tissues
Wenmei Shi, Randy Wymore, Hangang Yu, Jiying Wu, Rigel T. Wymore, Zongming Pan, Richard B. Robinson, Jane E. Dixon, David McKinnon, Ira S. Cohen
Abstract—HCN cation channel mRNA
expression was determined in the rabbit heart and neonatal and adult
rat ventricle using RNase protection assays. In the rabbit SA node, the
dominant HCN transcript is HCN4, representing >81% of the
total HCN message. HCN1 is also expressed, representing
>18% of the total HCN mRNA. Rabbit Purkinje fibers contained almost
equal amounts of HCN1 and HCN4 transcripts with low levels of HCN2,
whereas rabbit ventricle contained predominantly HCN2. The SA node
contained 25 times the total HCN message of Purkinje fibers and 140
times the total HCN message of ventricle. No reports of
hyperpolarization-activated current
(If) exist in rabbit Purkinje fibers, and we
could not record If in rabbit
ventricular myocytes. To investigate the possible role of
isoform switching in determining the voltage dependence of
If, we determined the prevalence of HCN
isoforms in neonatal and adult rat ventricle. We had previously
determined the threshold for activation of
If to be 
-70 mV in neonatal rat
ventricle and -113 mV in adult rat ventricle. In both neonatal and
adult rat ventricle, only HCN2 and HCN4 transcripts are present.
The ratio of HCN2 to HCN4 is 5:1 in the neonate and 13:1 in the
adult. Taken together, these results suggest that different cardiac
regions express different isoforms of the HCN family. The HCN1 and HCN4
isoforms are most closely associated with a depolarized threshold for
If activation, whereas the HCN2 isoform is
associated with a more negative activation curve. The full text of
this article is available at http://www.circresaha.org.
(Circ Res. 1999;85:e1-e6.)
Key Words: RNase protection assay
mRNA
distributionhyperpolarization-activated
current
Web Site Feature
The full-length article can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.circresaha.org
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