Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a previously unrecognized small protein in cells of the human heart that plays a key role in heart muscle contraction. The protein is made ...

Working with heart muscle cells from diabetic rats, scientists at Johns Hopkins have located what they say is the epicenter of mischief wreaked by too much blood sugar and used a sugar-gobbling enzyme ...

Contraction of the heart is driven by cyclical interactions between myosin and actin filaments powered by ATP hydrolysis. The modular structure of heart muscle and the organ-level synchrony of the ...

No one can live without a heart pumping blood to the rest of the body. New research from the University of Missouri School of Medicine reveals more information about this vital function and how it’s ...

When a muscle contracts, the parts of a sarcomere "shorten" and come closer together. Each cardiac muscle cell can have over 5,000 sarcomeres, which compounds both the shortening and relaxation events ...

In a surprising discovery, scientists have found that the heart possesses 'sweet taste' receptors, similar to those on our tongues, and that stimulating these receptors with sweet substances can ...

Millions of adults have atrial fibrillation—an irregular beating of the upper chambers of the heart that yields increased risk of heart failure, stroke and death. Many genetic mutations in the ...

It's been estimated that over one lifetime, a heart will beat 2.5 to 3 billion times without stopping. Yet the mechanics of how the heart physically carries out this function flawlessly, without fail, ...

Female and male Wistar rats (9–11 weeks old) were purchased from the University’s animal facility. Protocols for animal handling and euthanasia were approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of The ...