Cardiac Electrophysiology and Pharmacology 2024
A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 June 2024 | Viewed by 145
Special Issue Editors
2. HU-REN-SZTE Research Group for Cardiovascular Pharmacology, 6720 Szeged, Hungary
Interests: cardiac electrophysiology; arrhythmias; sinoatrial pace-making; Ca2+ cycling; hiPSC
Interests: Na/Ca exchanger; Ca handling; cardiac electrophysiology; arrhythmias
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cardiac arrhythmia is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality; therefore, significant efforts in cardiac research have been made to identify appropriate antiarrhythmic drugs over the past few decades. Classical antiarrhythmic therapy includes the application of different Na+-, K+ and Ca2+-channel blockers, however pharmacological interventions are still hampered because the compounds often exert a lack of selectivity and/or proarrhythmic side effects. A further important aspect of the unsatisfactory pharmacological treatments is the lack of sufficient knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of several diseases. A better understanding of cardiac electrophysiology, both in healthy and pathophysiological conditions, could improve the effectiveness of pharmacological treatments and may decrease proarrhythmic risk. Accordingly, better understanding of Ca2+ handling in health and disease by exploring its regulatory mechanisms, its role in arrhythmogenesis and in-depth details of Ca2+ mismanagement may improve the development of novel antiarrhythmic strategies. Pharmacological modification of different receptors and ion channels such as the ryanodine receptor, Na+/Ca2+ exchanger, sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase was the object of intensive research in the past few years. Understanding the electrical properties of the heart–including pacemaker-, atrial-, ventricular or Purkinje cells–and the possibilities of their pharmacological modulation are also critically important to improve the therapeutic pharmacological strategies. For instance, pharmacological inhibition of the Ca2+ activated K+ current has emerged to be a leading novel target to modulate pacemaking or action potential duration in non-pacemaking tissues in various diseases. Novel techniques, such as optogenetics, hiPSC derived cardiomyocytes or computational modeling may help to explore the pharmacological and physiological properties of ion channels such as Na+-channels or background channels that are difficult to measure using conventional techniques or as the transient outward current (Ito) that lack appropriately specific inhibitors. The engineering and comprehensive analysis of novel, more specific pharmacological compounds are also necessary to specifically characterize an ion channel function and provide novel strategies for pharmacological interventions. This Special Issue is designed for the fields of cardiac electrophysiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology with the aim of better understanding of the basic cardiac mechanisms and highlighting the importance of improving the efficacy and safety of antiarrhythmic treatment.
Dr. Noémi Tóth
Dr. Norbert Nagy
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceuticals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- heart
- arrhythmia
- Ca2+ handling
- ion channels
- electrophysiology
- pharmacology
