Department of Biotechnology
inStem (Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine)

Cardiomyocyte orientation recovery at micrometer scale reveals long-axis fiber continuum in heart walls.

Publication Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

October 4, 2023

Journal

The EMBO journal

Volume/Issue

42/19

ISSN

1460-2075

Coordinated cardiomyocyte contraction drives the mammalian heart to beat and circulate blood. No consensus model of cardiomyocyte geometrical arrangement exists, due to the limited spatial resolution of whole heart imaging methods and the piecemeal nature of studies based on histological sections. By combining microscopy and computer vision, we produced the first-ever three-dimensional cardiomyocyte orientation reconstruction across mouse ventricular walls at the micrometer scale, representing a gain of three orders of magnitude in spatial resolution. We recovered a cardiomyocyte arrangement aligned to the long-axis direction of the outer ventricular walls. This cellular network lies in a thin shell and forms a continuum with longitudinally arranged cardiomyocytes in the inner walls, with a complex geometry at the apex. Our reconstruction methods can be applied at fine spatial scales to further understanding of heart wall electrical function and mechanics, and set the stage for the study of micron-scale fiber remodeling in heart disease.

Alternate Journal

EMBO J

PubMed ID

37671467

PubMed Central ID

PMC10548172

Authors

Drisya Dileep
Tabish A Syed
Tyler Fw Sloan
Perundurai S Dhandapany
Kaleem Siddiqi
Minhajuddin Sirajuddin

Keywords

Animals
Mice
Mammals
Heart Ventricles
Myocytes, Cardiac