Cardiac muscle is unique in terms of the number and type of cell-to-cell adhesion structures. Describe...

Cardiac muscle is unique in terms of the number and type of cell-to-cell adhesion structures. Describe at least

two, providing a link between the adhesion structures and the resulting functions of cardiac cells.

Expert Solution

Cardiomyocytes need to transmit the contractile force throughout their network, and function as a syncytium (many cells fused together) for the healthy, continued, co-ordinated, rhythmic beating of the heart. This force transmission can occur only when proper muscle tension is maintained through the actin filaments anchoring the adherens junctions, which are a component of the intercalated disc. Cell-to-cell adhesion, particularly this end-to-end adhesion, is essential for maintenance of the structural integrity of the heart, because, lack of proper adhesion leads to dissolution of the adherens junctions, leading to altered myocyte orientation and can lead to dilated cardiomyopathy.

The junctions also contain desmosomes, that allow free passage of ions between connected cardiomyocytes, allowing proper spread of action potentials, and to ensure coordinated electrical impulse transmission in the heart, between the conducting (pacemaker) cells, and from the conducting cells to the contractile cells. This helps to reinforce the all-or-none principle required for rhythmic heartbeat. Thus, the cell–cell, and cell-matrix adhesions of the cardiac muscle are cooperatively involved in determining the cardiac output.

Additionally, constant, and proper adhesion contact and continued cell signaling through cadherin molecules is required for the maintenance of a healthy heart. Improper adhesion and tension can cause a cardiac hypertrophy response, leading to ectopic replication initiation in cardiomyocytes that generally do not enter the cell cycle.

Sydney Mullin answered 2 years ago

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