Understanding the Heart’s Intracellular Orchestra: Functional Characterization of Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Cardiomyocytes

Understanding_the_Heart
Cardiac excitation-contraction coupling is the process by which electrical excitation drives cardiomyocyte mechanical shortening. Following membrane depolarization, calcium influx through voltage-gated calcium channels triggers calcium release from intracellular stores. Increased cytosolic calcium binds to troponin, allowing sliding of actin thin filaments against myosin thick filaments. This results in myocyte contraction. Cytosolic calcium extrusion and sequestration induces myofilament relaxation, readying the cardiomyocyte to begin again. Understanding this tightly regulated process, as well as how perturbations disrupt it, is critical to understanding heart function and dysfunction.
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ROCHE

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