| Project/Area Number |
14570695
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Circulatory organs internal medicine
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| Research Institution | Showa University |
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Principal Investigator |
SAITO Tsukasa Showa University, School of Medicine, Assistant Professor, 医学部, 講師 (40205662)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
SAKAI Tetsuo Showa University, School of Medicine, Assistant Professor, 医学部, 講師 (60281367)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2002 – 2003
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2003)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
Fiscal Year 2002: ¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000)
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| Keywords | pulmonary vein / atrial fibrillation / ectopic automaticity / gap junction |
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| Research Abstract |
Electrophysiologic studies have shown that spontaneous initiation of atrial fibrillation by ectopic beats originate from within pulmonary veins. We previously described non-uniform muscle fiber arrangement and the existence of small myocardial cells, which might be related in arrhythmogenesis, in the periphery of pulmonary veins. The purpose of this study is to identify the connexin isotypes expressed by myocardial cells of pulmonary veins in the patients with atrial fibrillation.
Human autopsy hearts were studied and classified two groups; with atrial arrhythmias, with no history of atrial arrhythmias. The frozen sections including the periphery of pulmonary veins were obtained from 25 human autopsy hearts, 11 with atrial fibrillation and 14 with no history of atrial arrhythmias. Immunohistological staining using anti-connexin antibodies, connexin 40, 43 and 45, were performed.
Expression of connexin 40 was heterogeneous and decreased in the group of patient with atrial fibrillation. The other hand, there was no difference in the expression of connexin 43 and connexin 45 between two groups of patients.
Heterogeneity and alternation of the expression of connexin in the periphery of pulmonary veins might be related in arrhythmogenesis in these area.
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