Summary
Polarization-microscopic and micrometric investigations of the myocardium during infarction at autopsy and in experimental ischemic conditions, has shown that one of the earliest and most typical morphological signs of ischemic myocardium is sarcomere relaxation. The latter is expressed by the loss of contractility of muscle cells in life time and in strongly frozen corpses, and due to the effects of fixatives. Increase of the percentage of relaxed sarcomeres parallels the duration of experimental ischemia and the time after myocardial infarction. This allows the indirect calculation of irreversible cell change.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baroldi, G.: Different morphologic types of myocardial cell death in man. Ann. Meet. Intern. Study Group for Research in Card. Metabol., Abstr., Sect. B, 41, Freiburg, 1973
Baroldi, G.: Myocardial necrosis: the need for definition. J. Mol. Cell. Cardiol. 6, 401–402 (1974)
Bouchardy, B., Majno, G.: Histopathology of early myocardial infarcts. A new approach. Amer. J. Pathol. 74, 301–317 (1974)
Caulfield, J.B.: Fine structure of normal and diseased heart. Progr. in Cardiovasc. Diseases. Med. Electron. in Cardiovasc. Disease, P. II, 5, 610–630 (1963)
Ferrans, V.J., Buja, L.M., Maron, B.J.: Myofibrillar abnormalities following cardiac muscle cells injury. Ann. Meet. Intern. Study Group for Research in Card. Metabol., Abstr., Sect. B, 15, Freiburg, 1973
Hack, H.H., Helmy, F.M.: Some correlative lipid and histochemical studies of experimental myocardial infarction in the dog. Acta Histochem. 27, 291–302 (1967)
Hort, W.: Quantitative Untersuchungen über den Einflu\ der Fixierung, EntwÄsserung und Einbettung auf die Herzmuskulatur. Z. wissensch. Mikr. mikr. Techn. 65, 16–21 (1961)
Hort, W.: Ventrikeldilatation und Muskelfaserdehnung als früheste morphologische Befunde beim Herzinfarkt. Virchows Arch. path. Anat. 339, 72–82 (1965)
Hort, W.: Mikroskopische Beobachtung an menschlichen Infarktherzen. Virchows Arch. path. Anat. 345, 61–70 (1968)
Jennings, R.B., Ganote, C.E.: Structural changes in the myocardium during acute ischemia. In: Myocardial metabolism. (Proceedings of the Ist Soviet-American symposium), 1973, USA, Y. Chasov, E. Braunwald, Eds. 325–341. Moscow: Medicine 1975
Page, E., Polimeni, P.: Ultrastructural changes in the ischemic zone bordering experimental infarcts in rat left ventricles. Am. J. Pathol. 87, 81–104 (1977)
Schmalbruch, H.: Quantitativ-morphologische Untersuchungen an Herzmuskelzellen von normalen und hypoxischen Ratten. Z. Zellforsch. 109, 384–397 (1970)
Shperling, I.D.: On the state of the contractility apparatus of myocardial cells in ischemic injuries. Cardiology (Medicine, Moscow) 17, 128–131 (1977)
Sokolov, B.P., Danilova, K.M., Lukicheva, T.J., Gorokhovsky, B.J.: Clinical importance of some metabolic shifts in myocardial infarction based on the data of a complex biochemical and histoenzymatic investigation. Sovjetskaja Medicina (Medicine, Moscow) 11, 22–29 (1972)
Sonnenblick, E.H., Spiro, D., Spotnitz, H.M.: The ultrastructural basis of Starling's law of the heart. The role of the sarcomere in determining ventricular size and stroke volume. Am. Heart J. 68, 336–346 (1964)
Spiro, D.: The fine structure and contractile mechanism of heart muscle. In: The myocardial cell structure, function and modification by cardiac drugs, S.A. Briller, H.L. Conn, Eds., pp. 13–61. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylv. Press 1966
Pathoanatomical diagnosis of acute ischemic heart disease. Report of the scientific group of W.H.O. Series of Technical Reports, Nr. 441, Geneva, 1971
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shperling, I.D. The relaxation of sarcomeres in ischemic injury of myocardium. Virchows Arch. A Path. Anat. and Histol. 380, 149–154 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00430621
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00430621