Pressure Overload Induces Early Morphological Changes in the Heart

Cardiac hypertrophy, whether pathological or physiological, induces a variety of additional morphological and physiological changes in the heart, including altered contractility and hemodynamics. Events exacerbating these changes are documented during later stages of hypertrophy (usually termed pathological hypertrophy). Few studies document the morphological and physiological changes during early physiological hypertrophy. We define acute cardiac remodeling events in response to transverse aortic constriction (TAC), including temporal changes in hypertrophy, collagen deposition, capillary density, and the cell populations responsible for these changes. Cardiac hypertrophy induced by TAC in mice was detected 2 days after surgery (as measured by heart weight, myocyte width, and wall thickness) and peaked by day 7. Picrosirius staining revealed increased collagen deposition 7 days after TAC; immunostaining and flow cytometry indicated a concurrent increase in fibroblasts. The findings correlated with angiogenesis in TAC hearts; a decrease in capillary density was observed at day 2, with recovery to sham-surgery levels by day 7. Increased pericyte levels, which were observed 2 days after TAC, may mediate this angiogenic transition. Gene expression suggests a coordinated response in growth, extracellular matrix, and angiogenic factors to mediate the observed morphological changes. Our data demonstrate that morphological changes in response to cardiovascular injury occur rapidly, and the present findings allow correlation of specific events that facilitate these changes.