GJA1 and myocardial infarction: Similar to other cardioprotective strategies, an eventual Cx43-targeting treatment would need additional validation in clinically-relevant animal models of I/R that include the effects of aging, co-morbidities and co-medications present in MI patients [3], as several studies have shown that such conditions and medication may by themselves affect Cx43 expression and phosphorylation [40,146], and may thus lessen the desired clinical outcome.