Myocardial stiffness and reparative fibrosis following coronary embolisation in the rat

The structural nature of fibrillar collagen involved in the replacement fibrosis which accompanies discrete areas of cell necrosis remains uncertain, as does its influence on the diastolic and systolic stiffness of the intact myocardium. This study, using 15 micron diameter microsphere embolisation of the rat myocardium, was undertaken to address these issues. Collagen volume fraction (trichrome), fibrillar collagens (picrosirius-polarisation technique), and the stress-strain relations of the intact myocardium (isolated hearts) were determined 30 d after the infusion of microspheres into the left ventricle. Significant differences from controls included: (a) the presence of hypertension secondary to renovascular embolisation; (b) a greater volume fraction of collagen that included not only a meshwork of short, taut appearing, thick and thin collagen fibres, interposed between muscle in areas of cell loss, but also a perivascular fibrosis involving intramyocardial coronary arteries; (c) elevated active stiffness, and (d) a more exponential diastolic stress-strain relation with increased stiffness at strains of 5% or more. These findings suggest that the replacement fibrosis accompanying myocyte necrosis has distinguishing morphological features involving fibrillar collagen and which because of its structure, alignment, and location relative to muscle leads to enhanced myocardial stiffness, including a more exponential rise in the diastolic stress-strain relation. The perivascular accumulation of collagen suggests that additional factors other than microsphere induced necrosis were responsible for this reactive fibrosis.