Seminar - Tugging at the heart strings: mechanisms of cardiac mechano-arrhythmogenesis

Maintenance of cardiac function involves a regulatory loop in which electrical excitation causes the heart to contract through excitation-contraction coupling, and the mechanical state of the heart directly affects its electrical activity through mechano-electric coupling (MEC). However, in pathological states that alter early or late electro-mechanical coordination (i.e., disturbances in ECC or repolarisation-relaxation coupling, RRC), MEC may contribute to the initiation and/or sustenance of arrhythmias (mechano-arrhythmogenesis). The molecular identity of specific factors underlying mechano-arrhythmogenesis, however, remain undefined. Here I will discuss recent findings from my lab that demonstrate an involvement of alterations in RRC, transient receptor potential kinase ankyrin 1 (TRPA1), microtubules, reactive oxygen species, and intracellular calcium in ventricular mechano-arrhythmogenesis.

This seminar will be offered both online and in-person. Details in attached poster.