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Comment
. 2017 Apr 20;169(3):376-377.
doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.04.002.

Resident Macrophages: Near and Dear to Your Heart

Nikhil V Munshi  1
Affiliations
Comment

Resident Macrophages: Near and Dear to Your Heart

Nikhil V Munshi. Cell. .

Abstract

In this issue of Cell, Hulsmans et al. identify a subset of macrophages residing within the cardiac conduction system, which orchestrates cardiac rhythm. Macrophages directly couple with cardiomyocytes, and their perturbation alters cardiac conduction, suggesting that pharmacological manipulation of resident macrophages might represent a new strategy to combat cardiac arrhythmias.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Macrophage Functions in the Heart
(A) The canonical function of macrophages in the heart includes innate immune surveillance. Resident macrophages (magenta) function to clear infectious agents (e.g. viruses and bacteria) in addition to necrotic cellular debris (not shown). (B) Non-canonical functions for macrophages in the heart. Macrophages (purple) are shown to electrically couple with surrounding cardiomyocytes in the atrioventricular node (AVN) via connexin 43 gap junctions (shown in yellow) to mediate cardiac conduction. Resident macrophages (purple) have also been found to secrete interleukin-1β.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • Macrophages Facilitate Electrical Conduction in the Heart.
    Hulsmans M, Clauss S, Xiao L, Aguirre AD, King KR, Hanley A, Hucker WJ, Wülfers EM, Seemann G, Courties G, Iwamoto Y, Sun Y, Savol AJ, Sager HB, Lavine KJ, Fishbein GA, Capen DE, Da Silva N, Miquerol L, Wakimoto H, Seidman CE, Seidman JG, Sadreyev RI, Naxerova K, Mitchell RN, Brown D, Libby P, Weissleder R, Swirski FK, Kohl P, Vinegoni C, Milan DJ, Ellinor PT, Nahrendorf M. Hulsmans M, et al. Cell. 2017 Apr 20;169(3):510-522.e20. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.03.050. Cell. 2017. PMID: 28431249 Free PMC article.

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