GJA1 and atrial fibrillation: Indeed, there is strong evidence of the fact that apelin-13-an aliphatic multifunctional peptide, mainly originated from the myocardium, skeletal muscles, and liver-increased connexin 43 through autophagy inhibition and inducing AKT and mTOR phosphorylation and thereby decreases susceptibility to cardiac arrhythmias including AF and cardiomyocyte death [45,46].