5
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      Hormones and sex differences: changes in cardiac electrophysiology with pregnancy

      1 , 2 , 3
      Clinical Science
      Portland Press Ltd.

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPubMed
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Disruption of cardiac electrical activity resulting in palpitations and syncope is often an early symptom of pregnancy. Pregnancy is a time of dramatic and dynamic physiological and hormonal changes during which numerous demands are placed on the heart. These changes result in electrical remodelling which can be detected as changes in the electrocardiogram (ECG). This gestational remodelling is a very under-researched area. There are no systematic large studies powered to determine changes in the ECG from pre-pregnancy, through gestation, and into the postpartum period. The large variability between patients and the dynamic nature of pregnancy hampers interpretation of smaller studies, but some facts are consistent. Gestational cardiac hypertrophy and a physical shift of the heart contribute to changes in the ECG. There are also electrical changes such as an increased heart rate and lengthening of the QT interval. There is an increased susceptibility to arrhythmias during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Some changes in the ECG are clearly the result of changes in ion channel expression and behaviour, but little is known about the ionic basis for this electrical remodelling. Most information comes from animal models, and implicates changes in the delayed-rectifier channels. However, it is likely that there are additional roles for sodium channels as well as changes in calcium homoeostasis. The changes in the electrical profile of the heart during pregnancy and the postpartum period have clear implications for the safety of pregnant women, but the field remains relatively undeveloped.

          Related collections

          Most cited references171

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Cardiac excitation-contraction coupling.

          Of the ions involved in the intricate workings of the heart, calcium is considered perhaps the most important. It is crucial to the very process that enables the chambers of the heart to contract and relax, a process called excitation-contraction coupling. It is important to understand in quantitative detail exactly how calcium is moved around the various organelles of the myocyte in order to bring about excitation-contraction coupling if we are to understand the basic physiology of heart function. Furthermore, spatial microdomains within the cell are important in localizing the molecular players that orchestrate cardiac function.
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: not found
            • Article: not found

            Drug-induced prolongation of the QT interval.

              • Record: found
              • Abstract: not found
              • Article: not found

              Cardiac ion channels.

              O Grant (2009)

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Clinical Science
                Portland Press Ltd.
                0143-5221
                1470-8736
                May 01 2016
                April 01 2016
                May 01 2016
                : 130
                : 10
                : 747-759
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Center for Cellular and Systems Electrophysiology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14214, U.S.A.
                [2 ]Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14214, U.S.A.
                [3 ]Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14214, U.S.A.
                Article
                10.1042/CS20150710
                27128800
                7e055621-e8c5-4a25-8089-52dcd1dc0c5a
                © 2016
                History

                Comments

                Comment on this article

                Related Documents Log