Novel functions of macrophages in the heart: insights into electrical conduction, stress, and diastolic dysfunction

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Abstract
Over a century ago, Élie Metchnikoff described the macrophages’ ability to phagocytose. Propelled by advances in technology enabling phenotypic and functional analyses at unpreceded resolution, a recent renaissance in macrophage research has shed new light on these ‘big eaters’. We here give an overview of cardiac macrophages’ provenance in the contexts of cardiac homeostasis and stress. We highlight the recently identified mechanism by which these cells regulate electrical conduction in the atrioventricular node and discuss why we need a deeper understanding of monocytes and macrophages in systolic and diastolic dysfunctions.
Funding Information
  • National Institutes of Health (HL139598, HL128264, HL125428, HL131495)
  • Massachusetts General Hospital Research Scholar Program
  • German Research Foundation
  • German Centre for Cardiovascular Research
  • German Ministry of Education and Research
  • NIH

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