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SUMMARY:The Achilles' heel of the heart: the cardiac conduction system - P
 rofessor Mark Boyett\, University of Manchester
DTSTART:20151029T160000Z
DTEND:20151029T170000Z
UID:TALK60620@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Sarah Harrison
DESCRIPTION:The cardiac conduction system (CCS) consists of the sinus node
  (pacemaker of the heart responsible for the initiation of the cardiac act
 ion potential)\, atrioventricular node (in essence a relay station for the
  action potential from the atria to the ventricles) and the His-Purkinje s
 ystem (system of fibres responsible for the transmission of the action pot
 ential throughout the ventricles). The CCS is responsible for the initiati
 on and coordination of the heart beat. Dysfunction or disease of the CCS c
 auses a wide range of arrhythmias including all bradyarrhythmias (sinus br
 adycardia\, heart block and bundle branch block) and many tachyarrhythmias
  (many focal atrial tachycardias\, atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachyc
 ardia\, arguably ventricular outflow tract ventricular tachycardia and bun
 dle branch reentry). The CCS is also arguably involved in Brugada syndrome
  and catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT). The Pur
 kinje fibres are prone to early and late afterdepolarizations. The list of
  arrhythmias involving the CCS is extensive! Our work and the work of othe
 rs shows that the CCS becomes dysfunctional or diseased in a wide variety 
 of heart conditions – in heart failure\, following a myocardial infarcti
 on\, in pulmonary hypertension\, possibly in diabetes\, possibly in obesit
 y and even in veteran athletes. For example\, the Danish CARISMA study has
  shown that bradyarrhythmias account for half of deaths of myocardial infa
 rction patients. Our work suggests that the CCS is much more sensitive to 
 insults than the working myocardium of the heart. The impression is that\,
  if a part of the heart is to fail\, it is likely to be the CCS. The CCS i
 s the Achilles' heel of the heart. In my talk\, I will explore this thesis
  by discussing our work on heart failure\, myocardial infarction\, pulmona
 ry hypertension\, athletes and warming sea temperatures and fish. I will a
 lso discuss the implications of an intrinsic circadian rhythm in the CCS. 
 Finally\, I will describe our current experiments which suggest that we ca
 n prevent CCS dysfunction in heart failure and athletes by targeting certa
 in micro-RNAs.
LOCATION:Hodgkin Huxley Seminar Room\, Physiology Building\, Downing Site
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