Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2006 Jul;92 Suppl 4(Suppl 4):iv1-iv5.
doi: 10.1136/hrt.2005.078782.

Late sodium current in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease: consequences of sodium-calcium overload

D Noble  1 , P J Noble
Affiliations
Review

Late sodium current in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease: consequences of sodium-calcium overload

D Noble et al. Heart. 2006 Jul.

Abstract

Late sodium current in cardiac cells is very small compared with the fast component, but as it flows throughout the action potential it may make a substantial contribution to sodium loading during each cardiac cycle. Late sodium current may contribute to triggering arrhythmia in two ways: by causing repolarisation failure (early after depolarisations); and by triggering late after depolarisations attributable to calcium oscillations in sodium-calcium overload conditions. Reduction of late sodium current would therefore be expected to have therapeutic benefits, particularly in disease states such as ischaemia in which sodium-calcium overload is a major feature.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

References

    1. Noble D. A modification of the Hodgkin-Huxley equations applicable to Purkinje fibre action and pacemaker potentials. J Physiol 1962160317–352. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Weidmann S.Elektrophysiologie der Herzmuskelfaser. Bern: Huber, 1956
    1. Attwell D, Cohen I, Eisner D.et al The steady state TTX sensitive (“window”) sodium current in cardiac Purkinje fibres. Pflugers Arch 1979379137–142. - PubMed
    1. Sakmann B F A S, Spindler A J, Bryant S M.et al Distribution of a persistent sodium current across the ventricular wall in guinea pigs. Circ Res 200087910–914. - PubMed
    1. Gintant G A, Datyner N B, Cohen I S. Slow inactivation of tetrodotoxin sensitive current in canine cardiac Purkinje fibres. Biophys J 198445509–512. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms