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Updated: Aug 7, 2025

Scanning Electron Microscopy of Macerated Tissue to Visualize the Extracellular Matrix
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Framing Heartaches: The Cardiac ECM and the Effects of Age

Nathalie Ringström1, Charlotte Edling1, Giovanna Nalesso1

  • 1Faculty of Health and Medical Science, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7AL, UK.

International Journal of Molecular Sciences
|March 11, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Aging alters cardiac extracellular matrix (ECM) composition, impacting heart function and increasing arrhythmia risk. Understanding these age-related ECM changes is crucial for cardiac health research.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Biochemistry
  • Gerontology

Background:

  • The cardiac extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a critical role in heart structure and function.
  • Aging is associated with cardiac changes, including enlargement, stiffening, and increased risk of arrhythmias.
  • Many age-related cardiac alterations are linked to the ECM, but its proteomic composition during aging is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To provide an overview of cardiac ECM composition.
  • To describe the role of ECM components in healthy heart function.
  • To review ECM remodeling and its alterations due to aging.

Main Methods:

  • This review synthesizes existing literature on cardiac ECM.
  • It discusses proteomic analysis challenges and limitations of animal models.
  • Focuses on age-related changes in ECM composition and structure.

Main Results:

  • The cardiac ECM's proteomic makeup and its age-dependent modifications remain incompletely characterized.
  • Challenges in analyzing tightly bound cardiac proteins and reliance on animal models hinder research progress.
  • Aging impacts ECM structure and function, contributing to cardiac pathologies.

Conclusions:

  • Further research is needed to fully elucidate the age-related proteomic changes in the cardiac ECM.
  • Understanding these changes is vital for addressing age-associated cardiac conditions like atrial arrhythmia.
  • Improved methodologies are required to overcome current research limitations.

Keywords:
ageingcardiac remodellingcardiovascular medicineextracellular matrix

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