Mechano-electric feedback.

From humble beginnings, cardiac mechanoelectric transduction or feedback has come of age. The last editorial board (Editor-in-Chief, David Hearse, and concerning the Focussed Issue particularly Associate Editor Michael Shattock) facilitated growth by encouraging the Issue. The present board (Editor-in-Chief, Michiel Janse, and concerning this focussed publication, Associate Editor Tobias Opthof) handled the Issue’s adolesence with patience, fortitude and humour. The reviews in this volume of the journal affirm mechanoelectric feedback’s manifestation. It occurs throughout the heart from membrane to man at manifold anatomical and pathological levels. General reviews by Lab and Crozatier attest to mechanotransduction’s possible functional and conceptual roles, whereas Janvier and Boyett cover some ionic aspects, and Vandenberg et al. point to some cellular aspects related to osmotic changes. Taggart covers its existence in man, with Reiter alluding an arrhythmic role in congestive cardiac failure. Franz reviews experimental evidence in intact ventricle supporting a general role in clinical ventricular arrhythmia. Nazir and Lab do the same for atria1 arrhythmia. Still in the atrium, Kohl and Noble’s review suggests, essentially, that mechanoelectric feedback or transduction in fibroblasts may modulate rate and rhythm.