The physiological and clinical importance of sodium potassium ATPase in cardiovascular diseases

•The sodium potassium adenosine triphosphatase (Na/K-ATPase) functions as a scaffolding and signaling protein.•Both cardiotonic steroids and reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediate signal transduction through the Na/K-ATPase.•Na/K-ATPase is involved in renal sodium handling and progressive cardiac fibrosis.•Na/K-ATPase appears to be an amplifier for ROS generation.

The Na/K-ATPase has been extensively studied, but it is only recently that its role as a scaffolding and signaling protein has been identified. It has been identified that cardiotonic steroids (CTS) such as digitalis mediate signal transduction through the Na/K-ATPase in a process found to result in the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). As these ROS also appear capable of initiating this signal cascade, a feed forward amplification process has been postulated and subsequently implicated in some disease pathways including uremic cardiomyopathy.