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

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.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Graham Rykiel

    Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. 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.
  3. Jessica L Riesterer

    Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1084-2773
  4. Ian Fries

    Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Sanika Deosthali

    Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Katherine Courchaine

    Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Alina Maloyan

    Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7309-5026
  8. Kent Thornburg

    Knight Cardiovascular Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. 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.
    ORCID icon "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.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Brad Keller

Version history

  1. Received: April 22, 2020
  2. Accepted: October 9, 2020
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: October 20, 2020 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: October 29, 2020 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2020, Rykiel et al.

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.

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  1. Graham Rykiel
  2. Claudia S López
  3. Jessica L Riesterer
  4. Ian Fries
  5. Sanika Deosthali
  6. Katherine Courchaine
  7. Alina Maloyan
  8. Kent Thornburg
  9. Sandra Rugonyi
(2020)
Multiscale cardiac imaging spanning the whole heart and its internal cellular architecture in a small animal model
eLife 9:e58138.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.58138

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