Figure 1. Cardioprotective role of caveolae in I/R injury.

Caveloae could sense and respond to myocardial I/R stress via (1) activating various GPCR-coupled kinases signaling pathway; (2) changing activities of ionic or substrate channels/transporters (“O”); (3) activation and translocation of specific caveolae-associated signaling molecules (“N”) such as eNOS; (4) sensing mechanical stress and plasma membrane repair (“M”).