Cellular compartmentation in ischemic myocardium: indirect analysis by electron probe

Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) was carried out directly on myocardial cells and on the myofibrils and the mitochondria within them. A third subcellular compartment, which contains sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), was measured indirectly. The percent of the total cell calcium content that resides within this "hidden" compartment was calculated from cell data minus weighted myofibril and mitochondria data. This approach was applied to control, ischemic, and reperfused myocardium, and other elements were also quantified. We found that the calcium content of this third compartment is little changed during global ischemia but is markedly depleted after 5 min reperfusion. We conclude that these changes are ascribable to changes in SR function.