Cardiac muscle myocardium
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Summary
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These studies suggest the myocardium is essential for cardiac muscle contraction, development, and repair, with implications for tissue engineering, fibrosis management, and understanding heart disease.
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Understanding Cardiac Muscle Myocardium: Biochemistry, Engineering, and Development
Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Myocardium
The myocardium, the muscular tissue of the heart, is a complex structure whose biochemistry and biophysics are crucial for its function. Clinical observations on myocardial failure and cardiomyopathies highlight the need for a deeper understanding of cardiac muscle contraction physiology. Integrating biochemical, biophysical, and physiological efforts is essential for advancing this understanding. The myocardium's structure, biochemistry, and physical chemistry have been extensively reviewed, emphasizing the importance of these aspects in maintaining heart function.
Cardiac Muscle Engineering and Regeneration
Cardiac muscle engineering aims to create functional myocardium for repairing diseased hearts and modeling cardiac development and disease in vitro. Over the past decade, several technologies have been developed to engineer myocardium, although none perfectly replicate natural heart muscle. Future advancements are expected to yield human heart muscle equivalents through fine-tuning of tissue engineering concepts. Key areas of focus include the use of stem cells, transgenic technologies, and vascularization concepts to improve tissue structure and function. Legal and economic considerations are also critical before engineered myocardium can be applied in clinical settings.
Myocardial Fibrosis and Collagen Remodeling
Myocardial fibrosis involves the accumulation of collagen in the heart's interstitium, primarily type I and type III collagen. This collagen network provides structural support and tethers muscle cells, fibers, and blood vessels. In conditions like pressure overload hypertrophy, the collagen matrix undergoes continuous remodeling, which can lead to pathological hypertrophy, muscle fiber entrapment, and abnormal myocardial stiffness. Understanding the regulation of collagen formation in the myocardium could lead to the development of antifibrotic agents to manage heart failure.
Early Heart Tube Assembly and Myocardial Development
The formation of the myocardium during early heart development involves the medial movement of bilateral progenitor fields, driven by the shortening of the endoderm during foregut formation. This process is characterized by collective tissue motion rather than individual cell migration. As myocardial cells approach the midline, they exhibit distinct anterior-directed movements relative to the endoderm. These movements are constrained by the endoderm and adjacent mesoderm, contributing to the proper positioning of myocardial primordia.
Muscle Cell Differentiation in the Ascidian Heart
In the simple tubular heart of tunicates, myocardium formation involves the invagination of the heart primordium wall. Myocardial cells initially appear cubic and then flatten, forming characteristic protrusions. The differentiation of muscle cells is marked by the formation of close associations between the sarcoplasmic reticulum and the plasma membrane, followed by myofibrillogenesis near the luminal surface. These findings suggest that membrane changes precede and influence myofibril formation in developing muscle cells.
Hierarchical Tissue Architecture and Contractile Strength
The heart's contractile strength is influenced by its hierarchical tissue architecture, which includes neural and vascular networks, collagen fibrils, fibroblasts, and cardiac myocytes. Studies have shown that the alignment of engineered myocardium enhances calcium handling and contractile force generation. Quantitative assays indicate that increasing sarcomere alignment in engineered cardiac tissues corresponds with higher peak systolic stress, highlighting the importance of structural organization and cytoskeletal alignment in maximizing force generation.
Gene Expression During Myocardial Development
During embryogenesis, the myocardium undergoes complex developmental changes in gene expression patterns. Different populations of cardiac myocytes appear during development, each contributing to the morphogenetic events that shape the myocardium. In situ analysis of gene expression has provided insights into the temporal and spatial dynamics of structural and transcription factor genes in the developing heart.
Contribution of the Secondary Heart Field
The secondary heart field contributes myocardium and smooth muscle to the arterial pole of the developing heart. This region, where the ventricular myocardium transitions to the vascular smooth muscle of the aorta and pulmonary trunk, involves contributions from both the secondary heart field and neural crest-derived smooth muscle. Understanding these contributions is important for studying conditions like aortic dissection in Marfan's syndrome and other related disorders.
Conclusion
The myocardium is a highly specialized and complex tissue essential for heart function. Advances in understanding its biochemistry, biophysics, and development, as well as innovations in cardiac muscle engineering, hold promise for improving treatments for heart disease. Continued research into myocardial fibrosis, tissue architecture, and gene expression will further enhance our ability to manage and repair the heart.
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