Austin A, Fagan D G, Mayhew T M
Department of Pathology, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK.
J Anat. 1995 Dec;187 ( Pt 3)(Pt 3):641-7.
An experimental protocol is presented for obtaining efficient estimates of the total numbers of myocyte nuclei in the ventricles of human hearts from archival collections. Hearts were collected postmortem from fetuses at 31-42 weeks of gestation and infants at 7 days-9 months postnatal age. Ventricles from normal and abnormal subjects were examined. Numbers of myocyte nuclei per unit volume of myocardium were estimated separately for left and right ventricles using a design-based stereological device, the physical disector (parallel pairs of sections). Absolute numbers were calculated by multiplying nuclear packing densities by myocardial volume. The latter was estimated from ventricular mass and the percentage of ventricle occupied by myocardium. The findings, albeit preliminary, suggest that (1) myocyte number may rise during the last trimester of gestation, (2) postnatal ventricular growth is probably hypertrophic and/or interstitial rather than hyperplastic and (3) whilst absolute numbers are greater in the left ventricle, the pattern of growth is similar in both ventricles. Nuclear numbers found in 2 abnormal hearts (1 from a case of sudden infant death) tended to be lower than normal.
本文介绍了一种实验方案，用于从存档样本中有效估计人类心脏心室中肌细胞核的总数。心脏取自妊娠31 - 42周的胎儿和出生后7天至9个月的婴儿尸体。对正常和异常受试者的心室进行了检查。使用基于设计的体视学设备——物理分割器（平行切片对），分别估计左心室和右心室每单位心肌体积中的肌细胞核数量。通过将核堆积密度乘以心肌体积来计算绝对数量。心肌体积由心室质量和心肌在心室中所占百分比估算得出。这些发现虽然是初步的，但表明：（1）肌细胞数量可能在妊娠晚期增加；（2）出生后心室生长可能是肥厚性和/或间质性的，而非增生性的；（3）虽然左心室的绝对数量更多，但两个心室的生长模式相似。在2例异常心脏（1例为婴儿猝死病例）中发现的核数量往往低于正常水平。
