Role of the cardiac sodium current in excitability and conduction

摘要

The theoretic and experimental work discussed in this review demonstrates that the role of Na+ inward current in cardiac excitability and propagation cannot be discussed independently of Ca2+ inward current, the discontinuous structure of cellular network, and cell-to-cell coupling. The contribution of all these variables to propagation is interdependent. Moreover, all these variables may change in a specific pathologic setting and explain the different behavior of electrical propagation and responsiveness to pharmacologic drugs of diseased hearts.