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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Analysis of Tubular Membrane Networks in Cardiac Myocytes from Atria and Ventricles
Published on: October 15, 2014
Structural and molecular determinants of intercellular coupling in cardiac myocytes
H L Kanter1, E C Beyer, J E Saffitz
1Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
Abstract:
Electrical activation of the heart requires intercellular transfer of current through gap junctions connecting individual cardiac myocytes. Using a combination of light and electron microscopic techniques and molecular approaches, we have characterized the number, size, and spatial distribution of intercellular connections at gap junctions in cardiac myocytes and have also cloned, sequenced, and elucidated the subcellular distribution of three physiologically distinct gap junction channel proteins. In this review, we present evidence to suggest that the spatial distribution of myocyte interconnections and the molecular composition of gap junction channels may confer distinct conduction properties on specific tissues of the mammalian heart such as atrial and ventricular myocardium, and the nodes and bundles of the cardiac conduction system.
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