Cyclic AMP signaling in cardiac myocytes

The cyclic nucleotide 3′,5′-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is a ubiquitous second messenger of paramount importance in the regulation of the cardiac pump. It is now well established that cAMP is confined in specific subcellular compartments where it modulates various targets associated in signalosomes to control, for example, excitation–contraction coupling or gene transcription. In this review, we summarize notable breakthroughs on how cAMP is synthesized, degraded and compartmentalized. We describe its effectors, including newly described targets with emerging roles in heart. We also briefly discuss innovative methods recently developed to bring new insights on the role of these cAMP microdomains to control cardiac function.