Electrophysiology of human cardiac atrial and ventricular telocytes.

Telocytes (TCs) with exceptionally long cellular processes of telopodes have been described in human epicardium to act as structural supporting cells in the heart. We examined myocardial chamber-specific TCs identified in atrial and ventricular fibroblast culture using immunocytochemistry and studied their electrophysiological property by whole-cell patch clamp. Atrial and ventricular TCs with extended telopodes and alternating podoms and podomers that expressed CD34, c-Kit and PDGFR-β were identified.

Hydrogen sulphide suppresses human atrial fibroblast proliferation and transformation to myofibroblasts.

Cardiac fibroblasts are crucial in pathophysiology of the myocardium whereby their aberrant proliferation has significant impact on cardiac function. Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is a gaseous modulator of potassium channels on cardiomyocytes and has been reported to attenuate cardiac fibrosis. Yet, the mechanism of H2S in modulating proliferation of cardiac fibroblasts remains poorly understood.