Forbes M S, Sperelakis N
Tissue Cell. 1985;17(5):605-48. doi: 10.1016/0040-8166(85)90001-1.
Intercalated discs are exceptionally complex entities, and possess considerable functional significance in terms of the workings of the myocardium. Examination of different species and heart regions indicates that the original histological term has become out-moded; it is likely, however, that all such complexes will continue to fall under the generic heading of 'intercalated discs'. The membranes of the intercalated discs establish specific associations with a variety of intracellular and extracellular structures, as well as with numerous types of proteins and glycoproteins. Characterization of discs and their components has already brought together a large number of research disciplines, including microscopy, cytochemistry, morphometry, cell isolation and culture, cell fractionation, cryogenics, immunology, biochemistry, and electrophysiology. The continued dissection of substance and function of intercalated discs will depend on such interdisciplinary approaches. The intercalated disc component which continues to attract the greatest amount of interest is the so-called gap junction. All indications thus far point to a great deal of inherent lability in the architecture of the gap junction. There is thus considerable potential for the creation of artefact while preserving and observing gap junctions, and this problem will doubtless continue to hamper the understanding of their functions. A question of special interest concerns whether the gap junctions of intercalated discs are required for transfer of electrical excitation between cells, or maintain cell-to-cell adhesion, or in fact subserve both electrical and structural phenomena. Two schools of thought exist with respect to cell-to-cell coupling in the heart. One proposes that low-resistance junctions in the discs mediate electrical coupling, whereas the other supports the possibility of coupling across ordinary high-resistance membranes. Thus the intercalated discs continue to be a source of controversy, just as they have been since they were originally discovered in heart muscle over a century ago.
闰盘是极其复杂的结构，在心肌运作方面具有相当重要的功能意义。对不同物种和心脏区域的研究表明，最初的组织学术语已过时；然而，所有这些复合体可能仍将归在“闰盘”这一通用名称之下。闰盘的膜与多种细胞内和细胞外结构以及众多类型的蛋白质和糖蛋白建立了特定联系。对闰盘及其组成部分的表征已经汇聚了大量研究学科，包括显微镜学、细胞化学、形态计量学、细胞分离与培养、细胞分级分离、低温学、免疫学、生物化学和电生理学。对闰盘物质和功能的持续剖析将依赖于这些跨学科方法。闰盘中最受关注的组成部分是所谓的缝隙连接。迄今为止的所有迹象都表明，缝隙连接的结构存在很大的内在不稳定性。因此，在保存和观察缝隙连接时存在产生假象的很大可能性，这个问题无疑将继续阻碍对其功能的理解。一个特别有趣的问题是，闰盘的缝隙连接对于细胞间电兴奋的传递是必需的，还是维持细胞间黏附，或者实际上同时服务于电和结构现象。关于心脏中的细胞间耦合存在两种观点。一种观点认为，闰盘中的低电阻连接介导电耦合，而另一种观点则支持通过普通高电阻膜进行耦合的可能性。因此，闰盘仍然是一个争议来源，就像自一个多世纪前在心肌中首次发现它们以来一直如此。
