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Updated: May 10, 2026
Echocardiographic Assessment of Cardiac Anatomy and Function in Adult Rats
Published on: December 13, 2019
Spatial arrangement of the heart structure: Application of second-order stereology in diabetic rats
Ali Noorafshan1, Saied Karbalay-Doust1, Hajar Khazraei2
1Histomorphometry & Stereology Research Centre, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; Anatomy Department, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Unlabelled:
The present study explored three-dimensional spatial arrangements of the cardiomyocytes and microvessels within the heart of rats and evaluated the arrangement for differences after diabetes using second-order stereology. Isector method was applied to obtain isotropic uniform random sections of the heart. The pair correlation g(r) and cross-correlation functions were estimated by counting dipole probes (with length of 3.57 μm) superimposed on histological sections of the heart. The co-variograms indicated that the curve of g(r) for the cardiomyocyte showed a gap between cardiomyocytes at r=21-25 μm in the control rats and a wider gap at r=18-50 μm in diabetic hearts. Estimates of g(r) for the vessels also showed a wider gap (at r=25-39 μm) in diabetic hearts compared to the control rats (r=25-32 μm). These indicate a negative correlation (repulsion) between the cardiomyocytes and microvessels in the diabetic hearts. Evaluation of the cross-correlation function of the cardiomyocytes and microvessels showed that at 32-36 μm, both structures had a negative correlation in the control group, but not in the diabetic rats.
Conclusion:
Dissociation of the cardiomyocytes at some places can be seen in diabetic heart. This can be seen also in microvessels. Neither cardiomyocytes nor microvessels are arranged normally after diabetes.
