Intracellular signalling through protein kinases in the heart.

Protein kinases play important roles in intracellular signalling pathways in probably all cells. In the heart, they are involved in the regulation of ion handling, contractility, fuel metabolism and growth. In this review, we discuss the consequences of activation of protein kinases known to be expressed in the heart. We concentrate principally on the following: cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, protein kinase C, mitogen-activated protein kinase, Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinases and pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase.