Related Experiment Videos

Electron microscopic studies on the ATPase activity in myocardial infarction -changes in the early myocardial

Ultracytochemical changes in ATPase activity of ischemic myocardial cells were studied in the dog heart by electron microscopy in the early stage of myocardial infarction and compared to the fine structural alterations in the ischemic myocardium. 1) In the normal myocardial cell, ATPase activity was observed intensely in the terminal cisternae (TC) of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), and moderately in the myofilaments in the longitudinal SR and around the gap junctions of the intercalated discs. 2) The most striking change in the ischemic myocardial cells was the reduction in the ATPase reaction product in the TC of the SR and along the gap junctions 60 min after coronary ligation, simultaneously with swelling of the TC and the appearance of mitochondrial dense deposits. The reaction product began to decrease at 30 min on the myofilaments, and for 3 to 12 hours no reaction product was observed except irreversible morphologic changes in 60 to 70% of the longitudinal SR in the ischemic subendocardial cells. 3) A decrease in ATPase activity was recognized in the early stage of myocardial ischemia simultaneously with the fine structural changes of myocardial cells and it is considered to be one of the signs of ischemic irreversibility.

Related Concept Videos