PMID: 7025661Sep 1, 1981Paper

Filament systems in the Purkinje fibers of the heart

The American Journal of Physiology
L E Thornell, A Eriksson

Abstract

The presence of a specialized cell system designed to conduct the electrical impulses for the sequential contraction of heart muscle is well known. This conduction system of the heart exhibits special morphological features and differs from the contractile myocardium in several respects, including cell form and size, intercellular contacts, and the absence of T tubules. This review is focused on another distinguishing feature, the specific filament systems present in the conduction cells. The conduction cells contain myofibrillar material with different histochemical, biochemical, and morphological properties compared with the contractile myocardium. The conduction cells also contain specific myofilament-polyribosome complexes, of unknown function, never seen in ordinary myocardial cells. Intermediate filaments, present in all eukaryotic cell types, are extremely abundant in conduction cells, especially in birds and larger mammals. Other filamentous organelles of the conduction cells include leptofibrils, microtubules, and microfilaments. The combined results from several investigations indicate that the filamentous systems maintain the structural integrity of the conduction cell bundles functioning as a cytoskeleton. Extracell...Continue Reading

Citations

Jan 1, 1983·Annals of Biomedical Engineering·J R Sommer
Jan 10, 2019·American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology·Andrew AntolicMaureen Keller-Wood

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