Microdomain heterogeneity in 3D affects the mechanics of neonatal cardiac myocyte contraction.

ABSTRACT: Cardiac muscle cells are known to adapt to their physical surroundings, optimizing intracellular organization and contractile function for a given culture environment. A previously developed in vitro model system has shown that the inclusion of discrete microscale domains (or microrods) in three dimensions (3D) can alter long-term growth responses of neonatal ventricular myocytes. The aim of this work was to understand how cellular contact with such a domain affects various mechanical changes involved in cardiac muscle cell remodeling. Myocytes were maintained in 3D gels over 5 days in the presence or absence of 100-μm-long microrods, and the effect of this local heterogeneity on cell behavior was analyzed via several imaging techniques. Microrod abutment resulted in approximately twofold

SUBMITTER: Curtis MW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3407350 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature