Cell signaling of adjacent cells. In cardiac muscle, gap junctions between adjacent cells allows for action potential propagation from the cardiac pacemaker region of the heart to spread and coordinately cause contraction of the heart. The notch signaling mechanism is an example of juxtacrine signaling (also known as contact-dependent signaling) in which two adjacent cells must make physical contact in order to communicate. This requirement for direct contact allows for very precise control of cell differentiation during embryonic development. In the worm "Caenorhabditis elegans", two cells of the developing gonad each have an equal chance of terminally differentiating or becoming a uterine
Cardiac contractility modulation heart structure can be partially reversed by Cardiac contractility modulation through a process known as reverse remodeling of the heart. Development of cardiac contractility modulation began in the late 1990s. Studies on individual cardiac muscle cells using a patch-clamp technique had already shown, in 1969, that a voltage applied during the absolute refractory period through leads between the interior of the cell and its outside environment increased the calcium influx through the cell membrane and improved the contraction of cardiac muscle cells. In 2001, scientists observed that a similar effect occurs even if the voltage is applied exclusively outside the