title: Proarrhythmic atrial calcium cycling in the diseased heart.
abstract: During the last decades Ca(2+) has been found to play a crucial role in cardiac arrhythmias associated with heart failure and a number of congenital arrhythmia syndromes. Recent studies demonstrated that altered atrial Ca(2+) cycling may promote the initiation and maintenance of atrial fibrillation, the most common clinical arrhythmia that contributes significantly to population morbidity and mortality. This article describes physiological Ca(2+) cycling mechanisms in atrial cardiomyocytes and relates them to fundamental cellular proarrhythmic mechanisms involving Ca(2+) signaling abnormalities in the atrium during atrial fibrillation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Experimental Cardiology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany. niels.voigt@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Voigt
authors.forename: Stanley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nattel
authors.forename: Dobromir
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dobrev
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology*; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000209:etiology; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D056966:Excitation Contraction Coupling; D006325:Heart Atria / Q000378:metabolism; D006331:Heart Diseases; D006801:Humans; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000378:metabolism*; D053498:Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Calcium-Transporting ATPases / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D053498:Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Calcium-Transporting ATPases; D002118:Calcium