The late sodium current in heart failure: pathophysiology and clinical relevance.

Large and growing body of data suggest that an increased late sodium current (I ) can have a significant pathophysiological role in heart failure and other heart diseases. The first goal of this article is to describe how I functions under physiological circumstances. The second goal is to show the wide range of cellular mechanisms that can increase I in cardiac disease, and also to describe how the up-regulated I contributes to the pathophysiology of heart failure. The final section of the article discusses the possible use of I -modifying drugs in heart failure, on the basis of experimental and preclinical data.