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Updated: Feb 22, 2026

Determination of the Relative Cell Surface and Total Expression of Recombinant Ion Channels Using Flow Cytometry
Published on: September 28, 2016
The Cardiac Sodium Channel and Its Protein Partners
Elise Balse1, Catherine Eichel2
1Sorbonne Universités - UPMC Univ Paris 06 - Inserm - UMR_S 1166 - Unité de recherche sur les maladies cardiovasculaires, le métabolisme et la nutrition - Faculté de Médecine - Site Pitié-Salpêtrière, 91 boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013, Paris, France. elise.balse@upmc.fr.
Abstract:
Activation of the electrical signal and its transmission as a depolarizing wave in the whole heart requires highly organized myocyte architecture and cell-cell contacts. In addition, complex trafficking and anchoring intracellular machineries regulate the proper surface expression of channels and their targeting to distinct membrane domains. An increasing list of proteins, lipids, and second messengers can contribute to the normal targeting of ion channels in cardiac myocytes. However, their precise roles in the electrophysiology of the heart are far from been extensively understood. Nowadays, much effort in the field focuses on understanding the mechanisms that regulate ion channel targeting to sarcolemma microdomains and their organization into macromolecular complexes. The purpose of the present section is to provide an overview of the characterized partners of the main cardiac sodium channel, NaV1.5, involved in regulating the functional expression of this channel both in terms of trafficking and targeting into microdomains.
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