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Updated: Sep 28, 2025

Scanning Electron Microscopy of Macerated Tissue to Visualize the Extracellular Matrix
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Fibrosis and impaired Ca2+ signalling in heart failure

David J Crossman1

  • 1Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, 1142 New Zealand.

Biophysical Reviews
|March 28, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Excessive collagen in heart cells

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Biology
  • Cardiac Physiology
  • Molecular Cardiology

Background:

  • Heart failure involves fibrosis and impaired calcium (Ca2+) signaling.
  • Transverse (T)-tubules are crucial for cardiomyocyte excitation-contraction coupling.
  • T-tubule remodeling is implicated in heart failure, but its drivers are unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the link between collagen accumulation and T-tubule remodeling in heart failure.
  • To present evidence for collagen disposition as a driver of T-tubule dysfunction.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing evidence on cardiac fibrosis and T-tubule structure.
  • Analysis of collagen types (I, III, VI) localization within T-tubules.

Main Results:

  • Increased collagen types I, III, and VI found within the lumen of T-tubules in failing hearts.
  • This suggests a direct link between fibrosis and T-tubule abnormalities.

Conclusions:

  • Excessive collagen deposition within T-tubules may drive their remodeling in heart failure.
  • This mechanism offers a new perspective on the pathophysiology of cardiac dysfunction.

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