GJA1 and hydrops fetalis: 2000; Banville and Gray 2002). In HF, conduction slowing has been linked to a decrease in expression of the gap-junction protein Connexin-43 (Dupont et al. 2001). Likewise, elevated Connexin-43 expression is correlated with faster conduction in the myocardium (van Kempen et al. 1991). Short-term VNS therapy has been previously shown to preserve the expression of gap-junctional protein Connexin-43 over the course of minutes after cardiac injury (Ando et al. 2005).