Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: Slo1

Title: The beat goes on: Cardiac pacemaking in extreme conditions.

Authors: Christopher M Wilson, Georgina K Cox, Anthony P Farrell

Journal, date & volume: Comp. Biochem. Physiol., Part A Mol. Integr. Physiol., 2015 Aug , 186, 52-60

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25178563

Abstract
In order for an animal to survive, the heart beat must go on in all environmental conditions, or at least restart its beat. This review is about maintaining a rhythmic heartbeat under the extreme conditions of anoxia (or very severe hypoxia) and high temperatures. It starts by considering the primitive versions of the protein channels that are responsible for initiating the heartbeat, HCN channels, divulging recent findings from the ancestral craniate, the Pacific hagfish (Eptatretus stoutii). It then explores how a heartbeat can maintain a rhythm, albeit slower, for hours without any oxygen, and sometimes without autonomic innervation. It closes with a discussion of recent work on fishes, where the cardiac rhythm can become arrhythmic when a fish experiences extreme heat.