Myocyte injury along myofibers in left ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction

Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg. 2009 Dec;9(6):951-5. doi: 10.1510/icvts.2009.206524. Epub 2009 Sep 23.

Abstract

Left ventricular (LV) remodeling following myocardial infarction (MI) is considered to contribute to cardiac dysfunction. Though myofiber organization is a key component of cardiac structure, functional and anatomical features of injured myofiber during LV remodeling have not been fully defined. We investigated myocyte injury after acute MI in a mouse model. Mice were subjected to surgical coronary occlusion/reperfusion by left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) ligation and examined at 1 week and 4 weeks post-MI. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analysis demonstrated a significant decrease in systolic regional wall thickening (WT) in the border and remote zones at 4 weeks post-MI compared to that at 1 week post-MI (-86% in border zone, P<0.05, and -77% in remote zone, P<0.05). Histological assays demonstrated that a broad fibrotic scar extended from the initial infarct zone to the remote zone along mid-circumferential myofibers. Of particular note was the fact that no fibrosis was found in longitudinal myofibers in the epi- and endo-myocardium. This pattern of the scar formation coincided with the helical ventricular myocardial band (HVMB) model, introduced by Torrent-Guasp. MRI analysis demonstrated that the extension of the fibrotic scar along the band might account for the progression in cardiac dysfunction during LV remodeling.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Fibrosis
  • Heart Ventricles / pathology
  • Heart Ventricles / physiopathology
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Models, Cardiovascular
  • Myocardial Infarction / complications
  • Myocardial Infarction / pathology*
  • Myocardial Infarction / physiopathology
  • Myocytes, Cardiac / pathology*
  • Time Factors
  • Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / etiology*
  • Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / pathology
  • Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / physiopathology
  • Ventricular Remodeling*