MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR DIVERSITY OF HEART CONDUCTION SYSTEM MYOCYTES

Conduction system myocytes are a subpopulation of cardiac myocytes tha t display unique electrophysiologic properties. Significant difference s in cellular components of conduction myocytes have been demonstrated by the application of in situ procedures using both immunologic and m olecular probes. Although molecular and cellular biology investigation s are still at the beginning, they unequivocally show that conduction myocytes are a highly heterogeneous myocyte population whose differenc e from working myocytes might reflect both the degree of functional sp ecialization and the origin from a cell lineage distinct from myocardi al cells.