Reviews |
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
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
J. Qu, F. M. Volpicelli, L. I. Garcia, N. Sandeep, J. Zhang, L. Marquez-Rosado, P. D. Lampe, and G. I. Fishman Gap Junction Remodeling and Spironolactone-Dependent Reverse Remodeling in the Hypertrophied Heart Circ. Res., February 13, 2009; 104(3): 365 - 371. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
N. J. Severs, A. F. Bruce, E. Dupont, and S. Rothery Remodelling of gap junctions and connexin expression in diseased myocardium Cardiovasc Res, October 1, 2008; 80(1): 9 - 19. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. F. Bruce, S. Rothery, E. Dupont, and N. J. Severs Gap junction remodelling in human heart failure is associated with increased interaction of connexin43 with ZO-1 Cardiovasc Res, March 1, 2008; 77(4): 757 - 765. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. E. Zemljic-Harpf, J. C. Miller, S. A. Henderson, A. T. Wright, A. M. Manso, L. Elsherif, N. D. Dalton, A. K. Thor, G. A. Perkins, A. D. McCulloch, et al. Cardiac-Myocyte-Specific Excision of the Vinculin Gene Disrupts Cellular Junctions, Causing Sudden Death or Dilated Cardiomyopathy Mol. Cell. Biol., November 1, 2007; 27(21): 7522 - 7537. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
W. F. Liu, C. M. Nelson, J. L. Tan, and C. S. Chen Cadherins, RhoA, and Rac1 Are Differentially Required for Stretch-Mediated Proliferation in Endothelial Versus Smooth Muscle Cells Circ. Res., August 31, 2007; 101(5): e44 - e52. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. L. Valencik, D. Zhang, B. Punske, P. Hu, J. A. McDonald, and S. E. Litwin Integrin Activation in the Heart: A Link Between Electrical and Contractile Dysfunction? Circ. Res., December 8, 2006; 99(12): 1403 - 1410. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Rucker-Martin, P. Milliez, S. Tan, X. Decrouy, M. Recouvreur, R. Vranckx, C. Delcayre, J.-F. Renaud, I. Dunia, D. Segretain, et al. Chronic hemodynamic overload of the atria is an important factor for gap junction remodeling in human and rat hearts Cardiovasc Res, October 1, 2006; 72(1): 69 - 79. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. L. Lindsey, G. P. Escobar, R. Mukherjee, D. K. Goshorn, N. J. Sheats, J. A. Bruce, I. M. Mains, J. K. Hendrick, K. W. Hewett, R. G. Gourdie, et al. Matrix Metalloproteinase-7 Affects Connexin-43 Levels, Electrical Conduction, and Survival After Myocardial Infarction Circulation, June 27, 2006; 113(25): 2919 - 2928. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Hoshijima Mechanical stress-strain sensors embedded in cardiac cytoskeleton: Z disk, titin, and associated structures Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, April 1, 2006; 290(4): H1313 - H1325. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. Li, V. V. Patel, and G. L. Radice Dysregulation of cell adhesion proteins and cardiac arrhythmogenesis. Clin. Med. Res., March 1, 2006; 4(1): 42 - 52. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Somekawa, S. Fukuhara, Y. Nakaoka, H. Fujita, Y. Saito, and N. Mochizuki Enhanced Functional Gap Junction Neoformation by Protein Kinase A-Dependent and Epac-Dependent Signals Downstream of cAMP in Cardiac Myocytes Circ. Res., September 30, 2005; 97(7): 655 - 662. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. D. Spragg and D. A. Kass Controlling the Gap: Myocytes, Matrix, and Mechanics Circ. Res., March 18, 2005; 96(5): 485 - 487. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Y. Boateng, S. S. Lateef, W. Mosley, T. J. Hartman, L. Hanley, and B. Russell RGD and YIGSR synthetic peptides facilitate cellular adhesion identical to that of laminin and fibronectin but alter the physiology of neonatal cardiac myocytes Am J Physiol Cell Physiol, January 1, 2005; 288(1): C30 - C38. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
|
Circulation Research Home | Subscriptions | Archives | Feedback | Authors | Help | AHA Journals Home | Search Copyright © 2004 American Heart Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited. |