Researchers identify cause of heart block in athletes
Finding could help doctors monitor ‘heart rhythm disturbances’ in sportspeople, study’s first author says
Researchers have worked out why some athletes experience heart block, after studying the effects of long-term exercise in mice and retired racehorses.
Scientists from Manchester, Montpellier and Copenhagen discovered that regular, intense exercise caused molecular changes in the animals’ atrioventricular (AV) node.
They spotted a reduction in key proteins called ion channels, which control conduction in this part of the heart.
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