Grant: Project Grant

Contractility and synchronicity of the heartbeat requires resilient mechanical and electric coupling to maintain the functional and structural stability of the heart. The heart endures constant mechanical stress, necessitating the need for anchoring cell-cell junctions. Anchoring cell-cell junctions are particularly critical as they provide stability to cardiac myocytes in the face of severe stress by mechanically anchoring cells during cardiac systolic and diastolic cycles. In myocytes, these cell junctions are primarily localized at the longitudinal end of the cell in a stair-like profile, forming a structure classified as the intercalated disc (ICD). At the molecular level, the ICD is a highly organized triad of junctions between cardiac myocytes, including adhesive and communicating macromolecular complexes containing anchoring junctions (desmosomes and fascia adherens junctions) and communicating junctions (gap junctions). We are studying how this region is formed and maintained in cardiac myocytes