Gap Junctions pada Ischemia-Related Ventrikel Aritmia

Berlian Idriansyah Idris (Department of Cardiology and Vascular Medicine Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia National Cardiovascular Center Harapan Kita, Jakarta)
Yoga Yuniadi (Department of Cardiology and Vascular Medicine Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia National Cardiovascular Center Harapan Kita, Jakarta)

Indonesian Journal of Cardiology
Vol. 32, No. 1 Januari - Maret 2011

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, with isch-emic heart disease being the most common entity. Ventricular arrhythmia is one of the complications of ischemia that can result in sudden cardiac death. One of the underlying mechanisms of ischemia induced arrhythmia is closure of cardiac myocytes gap junctions, where gap junctions are channel-like structure between cells that allow passage of molecules and electrical current. During ischemia, gap junctions close incompletely, creating tissue impedance heterogeneity and conduction slowing, which provide substrate for ventricular arrhythmia. Conditions where gap junctions structure is altered, such as in heart failure, is associated with increased vulnerability of ischemia-induced ventricular arrhythmia.