What Does Troponin Do?

When a person suffers from heart attack, then a protein name Troponin is released in the bloodstream. Situation of heart attack occurs when plaque ruptures the coronary arteries, causing clotting of blood around the affected area. This ultimately restricts the normal supply of blood to different heart muscles. In case the problem is left untreated for a prolonged duration then lack of oxygen can damage the heart muscles.

Detection of troponin in the blood stream indicates heart attack and also help doctors to prescribe right treatment at the right time. For women who release low troponin for them many researches has been conducted for accurate diagnosis of heart attack.

What Does Troponin Do?

What Does Troponin Do?

Troponin which is a form of protein is attached to another type of protein name tropomyosin and it is present in the channel present between muscle tissues and the actin filaments. When muscles are in relaxed condition then tropomysoin simple adhere the attachment site of myosin crossbridge, this leads to restricted contraction of muscles. When muscle cells contracts, the calcium channels open the sarcoplasmic membrane leading to release of calcium in sarcoplasm region. Out of these, some portion of the calcium get attached to troponin causing change in the shape myosin present on actin filaments. Crossbridge are formed when myosin is attached with actin and this leads to contraction of muscles.

Troponin protein is present in both cardiac muscles as well as skeletal muscles; however, the form or the composition of protein may differ in both these muscles. One chief difference here is that the Tnc subunit present in cardiac muscles has three calcium ions whereas in skeletal muscle there are four calcium ions at the binding site. As such exact quantity of calcium used for the binding varies from one source another.

When the level of troponin increases in the cardiac area and flows with the blood then it leads to various heart problems and myocardial infarction is the most common problem that frequently occurs. Drastic increase in the level of troponin causes damage of cardiac muscle cell, which further leads to different types of heart injuries.

Cardiac Conditions

Few subtypes of troponin protein especially cardiac I and T are highly sensitive in nature and are very prominent symptoms for heart muscle damage. Subtypes of troponin are accurately measured in the blood; it helps in differentiating myocardial infarction with unstable angina. Individual suffered from myocardial infarction have very high troponin level in blood. It is very clear that cardiac troponin is a main cause for damaging heart muscle, although myocardial infarction is one of the common and severe heart damage conditions but there are many other heart disorders that occurred because of increased troponin.

Non-Cardiac Conditions

Usually the differences between non-cardiac and cardiac conditions are very artificial. The condition does not affect the heart primarily but have severe indirect affect on the heart muscles. People have around forty percent high troponins level are prone to high mortality risk or lead to prolong stay in hospital’s ICU i.e. Intensive-Care Unit. Experts suggest that people who suffer from high troponin level should immediately visit a doctor. This is so because, if detected in the early stage then it helps in controlling the increased level of troponin. There are some tests which doctors prescribe for diagnosing the increased level of troponin in blood. Some of the people make the mistake of ignoring the problem or left it untreated for a prolonged period of time thinking that the condition will be cured on its own without medical help but this is a big misconception. The condition can become worst if not taken care of.

Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:March 19, 2018

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