Visualization of cardiac muscle thin filaments and measurement of their lengths by electron tomography.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

An intriguing difference between vertebrate skeletal and cardiac muscles is that the lengths of the thin filaments are constant in the former but variable in the latter. The thick filaments have constant lengths in both types of muscles. The contractile behaviour of a muscle is affected by the lengths of both types of filaments as the tension generated during contraction depends on the amount of filament overlap. To understand the behaviour of cardiac muscle, it is important to know the distribution of the thin filament lengths. The previous detailed analysis by Robinson and Winegrad used serial transverse sections to determine the lengths of the thin filaments. However, the precision, set by the 100 nm section thickness, was low. Here, we have used electron tomography to prod

SUBMITTER: Burgoyne T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5436745 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature