Abstract:
The SR is the intracellular Ca2+ store (diastolic [Ca2+] SR~100µM) responsible for providing the bulk of the Ca2+ for cardiac muscle contraction. In isolated cardiomyocytes, the mishandling of intracellular Ca2+ has been implicated in heart failure (Lindner, Erdmann et al. 1998) and hypertrophy (Gomez, Valdivia et al. 1997). It is therefore important to look at SR content in multicellular preparations since the extracellular matrix plays an essential role in regulating intracellular Ca2+ handling (Pelouch, Dixon et al. 1993).
