Relative position of the atrioventricular canal determines the electrical activation of developing reptile ventricles

0493024 - FGÚ 2019 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Gregorovičová, Martina - Sedmera, David - Jensen, B.
Relative position of the atrioventricular canal determines the electrical activation of developing reptile ventricles.
Journal of Experimental Biology. Roč. 221, č. 11 (2018), č. článku jeb178400. ISSN 0022-0949. E-ISSN 1477-9145
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA16-02972S
Institutional support: RVO:67985823
Keywords : development * cardiac conduction system * heart * optical mapping
OECD category: Physiology (including cytology)
Impact factor: 3.017, year: 2018

Squamate reptiles appear to lack the specialized His-Purkinje system that enables the cardiac ventricle to be activated from apex to base as in mammals and birds. Instead, activation may simply spread from where the atrioventricular canal connects to the base. Gja5, which encodes Cx40, which allows fast impulse propagation, was expressed throughout the ventricles of developing anole lizards. Activation was optically recorded in developing corn snake and central bearded dragon. Early embryonic ventricles were broad in shape, and activation propagated from the base to the right. Elongated ventricles of later stages were activated from base to apex. Before hatching of the snake, the ventricle developed a cranial extension on the left and activation propagated from the base to the caudal apex and the cranial extension. In squamate reptiles, the pattern of electrical activation of the cardiac ventricle is dependent on the position of the atrioventricular canal and the shape of the ventricle.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0286493