Key result
High-frequency ultrasound tracks progressive myocardial cross-linking, showing distinct attenuation rises up to ~40 dB/cm.
Why the study?
The progressive stiffening of myocardium with aging and comorbidities may be linked to excessive collagen cross links, but noninvasive detection methods are needed.
Can high-frequency ultrasound detect changes in the physical properties of myocardial tissue undergoing protein cross-linking?
Can high-frequency ultrasound detect changes in the physical properties of myocardial tissue undergoing protein cross-linking?
High-frequency ultrasound can detect the precise time course of myocardial protein cross-linking in situ, demonstrating its potential to monitor myocardial stiffening.
May support in situ monitoring of myocardial cross-linking in rats; hypothesis-generating for clinical translation to assess tissue stiffening.
The progressive increase in stiffening of the myocardium associated with the aging process and abetted by comorbid conditions such as diabetes may be linked to an excessive number of collagen cross links within the myocardial extra-cellular matrix. To determine whether ultrasound can delineate changes in the physical properties of heart tissue undergoing cross linking, the authors employed a model in which increased cross linking was induced by treating rat myocardial tissue with specific chemical fixatives. Rat hearts (n=5 each group) were arrested at end-diastole, insonified (30 to 50 MHz) fresh within a few minutes of excision in a phosphate buffered solution, placed in a fixative (10% formalin or 2.5% glutaraldehyde) and insonified at 30-minute intervals thereafter for 24 hours. Ultrasonic attenuation increased in tissues cross linked with formalin (maximal change: 27.2+/-3.4 dB/cm) and glutaraldehyde (maximal change: 40.2+/-5.6 dB/cm) over a 24-hour period. The frequency dependence of the attenuation coefficient increased as a function of the extent of collagen cross links in formalin (maximal change: 0.8+/-0.3 dB/cm-MHz) and glutaraldehyde (maximal change: 0.9+/-0.6 dB/cm-MHz). This study represents the first time that the precise time course of myocardial protein cross linking in situ has been characterized by using real time monitoring, and the physiologic effect has been delineated on microscopic material properties.
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Hall et al. (2000) studied Myocardial tissue protein cross-linking (n=10). Chemical fixatives (10% formalin or 2.5% glutaraldehyde) vs. Baseline (fresh tissue) was evaluated on Ultrasonic attenuation and frequency dependence of the attenuation coefficient. High-frequency ultrasound detected increased ultrasonic attenuation in rat myocardial tissues cross-linked with formalin (27.2+/-3.4 dB/cm) and glutaraldehyde (40.2+/-5.6 dB/cm) over 24 hours.
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