Cardiomyocyte subdomain contractility arising from microenvironmental stiffness and topography.

ABSTRACT: Cellular structure and function are interdependent. To understand this relationship in beating heart cells, individual neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) were analyzed one and 3 days after plating when cultured on different stiffness (100, 400 kPa) and surface structures (flat or [Formula: see text] high, [Formula: see text] diameter, microposts spaced [Formula: see text] apart) manufactured from polydimethylsiloxane. Myofibril structure seen by immunohistochemistry was organized in three dimensions when NRVMs were attached to microposts. On day three, paxillin distribution near the post serving as cellular anchorage was quantified on both soft posts (12.04 % of total voxel count) and stiff posts (8.16 %). Living NRVMs were analyzed using line scans for sarcomeric shortening and sho

SUBMITTER: Broughton KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4383742 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature