Preservation of cardiac myocytes subjected to different preconditions: a comparative morphometric study of beating, fibrillating, and cardioplegically arrested canine hearts.

This study compares the ultrastructure of beating canine hearts with that of hearts subjected to different clinically common forms of cardiac arrest. The contraction state per test field was ascertained according to a specially developed classification. The volume density of myofibrils and the surface to volume ratio of mitochondria were used as parameters for cellular and mitochondrial swelling. Contraction bands were not found in any of the differently pretreated hearts. Following immersion fixation, contractions as well as over- and hypercontractions in beating, fibrillating, and St. Thomas-arrested hearts are significantly more pronounced than in HTK-arrested hearts. Cellular and mitochondrial volumes were similar in beating and fibrillating hearts. St. Thomas-perfusion significantly decreased cellular and mitochondrial volume compared to beating hearts, but these values were in the same range as in fibrillating hearts. Only HTK-solution actually led to a strong reduction of these compartments. Compared to immersion, perfusion fixation after coronary perfusion with cardioplegic solutions led to comparable cellular volumes, but significantly elevated the percentage of relaxed sarcomeres and significantly reduced mitochondrial swelling. The best structural preservation of myocytes was found after HTK-perfusion and perfusion fixation. Such ultrastructural quantitative and morphometrical parameters are powerful tools since results confirm that the degree of myocardial preservation depends on the method of cardiac arrest. This forms the basis for the choice of preconditions for subsequent ischemia. Furthermore, significant alterations of myocardial ultrastructure depend on a combination of the functional state of the heart, the method of cardioplegia, and the technique of fixation. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.