Analysis of ryanodine receptor clusters in rat and human cardiac myocytes.

ABSTRACT: Single rat ventricular myocytes and human ventricle tissue sections were labeled with antibodies against the ryanodine receptor (RyR) and alpha-actinin to examine the 3D distribution of RyRs with confocal microscopy. Image contrast was maximized by refractive index matching and deconvolution. The RyR label formed discrete puncta representing clusters of RyRs or "couplons" around the edges of the myofilaments with a nearest-neighbor spacing of 0.66 +/- 0.06 microm in rat and 0.78 +/- 0.07 microm in human. Each bundle of myofibrils was served by approximately six couplons, which supplied a cross-sectional area of approximately 0.6 microm(2) in rat and approximately 0.8 microm(2) in human. Although the couplons were in reasonable registration with z-lines, there were discontinuities in the lo

SUBMITTER: Soeller C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1986595 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature