title: Ultrastructural myocardial changes in seven cats with spontaneous hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common heart disease in cats and shares clinical and pathological characteristics with human HCM. Little is known about the pathogenic mechanisms underlying development of spontaneous feline HCM.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study population consisted of seven cats diagnosed with HCM and eight age-matched cats with no evidence of cardiac disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fresh myocardial biopsies taken from the middle of the left ventricular posterior free wall were obtained and examined with transmission electron microscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Electron microscopic examination showed ultrastructural aberrations of the myocardial cytoarchitecture and of the interstitium in the seven cats with HCM. In the most severely affected cats the myofibrils were disorganized and subsarcolemmal mitochondria were depleted. In control cats, contraction band artifacts were commonly seen.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this preliminary study we show that ultrastructural changes of the myocardium in seven cats with HCM involve the cytoskeleton and mitochondria. We suggest that our findings are important for future research aiming at elucidating the pathogenic mechanisms underlying the phenotypic expression of feline HCM. The results of this study prompt for a larger scale study, including quantitative measurements of mitochondrial distribution and cytoskeletal derangements in feline HCM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Clinical and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Dyrlægevej 16, DK-1870 Frederiksberg, Denmark; Xlab, Center for Healthy Aging, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3, DK-2200 Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: lbc@sund.ku.dk.
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Christiansen
authors.affiliation: Xlab, Center for Healthy Aging, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3, DK-2200 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prats
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Clinical and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Dyrlægevej 16, DK-1870 Frederiksberg, Denmark.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hyttel
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Clinical and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Dyrlægevej 16, DK-1870 Frederiksberg, Denmark.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Koch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002312:Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D002415:Cats; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D012519:Sarcoplasmic Reticulum / Q000648:ultrastructure
keywords: Cardiac ultrastructure; Electron microscopy; Metabolism; Z-disc