Multiscale cardiac imaging spanning the whole heart and its internal cellular architecture in a small animal model

Abstract
Data availability
Article and author information
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Abstract

Cardiac pumping depends on the morphological structure of the heart, but also on its sub-cellular (ultrastructural) architecture, which enables cardiac contraction. In cases of congenital heart defects, localized ultrastructural disruptions that increase the risk of heart failure are only starting to be discovered. This is in part due to a lack of technologies that can image the three dimensional (3D) heart structure, to assess malformations; and its ultrastructure, to assess organelle disruptions. We present here a multiscale, correlative imaging procedure that achieves high-resolution images of the whole heart, using 3D micro-computed tomography (micro-CT); and its ultrastructure, using 3D scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In a small animal model (chicken embryo), we achieved uniform fixation and staining of the whole heart, without losing ultrastructural preservation on the same sample, enabling correlative multiscale imaging. Our approach enables multiscale studies in models of congenital heart disease and beyond.

Data availability

Data generated and analysed during this study are described in the manuscript. Source data files have been provided for Figures 8 and 10. Datasets have been submitted to Dryad with DOI https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hdr7sqvg5.

The following data sets were generated

1. Rugonyi S
(2020) Multiscale Heart Image Data
Dryad Digital Repository, doi:10.5061/dryad.hdr7sqvg5.

https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hdr7sqvg5

Article and author information

Author details

Graham Rykiel

Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Claudia S López

Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States

For correspondence
lopezcl@ohsu.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Jessica L Riesterer

Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1084-2773
Ian Fries

Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Sanika Deosthali

Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Katherine Courchaine

Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Alina Maloyan

Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7309-5026
Kent Thornburg

Knight Cardiovascular Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Sandra Rugonyi

Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States

For correspondence
rugonyis@ohsu.edu

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-9262-7959

Funding

National Institutes of Health (R01 HL094570)

Sandra Rugonyi

OHSU University Shared Resource pilot funding

Sandra Rugonyi

OHSU School of Medicine Faculty Innovation Fund

Sandra Rugonyi

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.