3-Dimensional SEM Studies of the Sarcoplasmic Reticulum in Chicken Hearts

Abstract

The cardiomyocytes of birds are morphologically similar to those of ectothermic vertebrates, despite the fact that birds are endotherms. Bird myocytes are long and thin, contrasting with the brick-shaped morphology seen in mammalian myocytes. T-tubules are not present in bird myocytes. Instead they possess intracellular regions of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), which are known as corbular SR (cSR). These cSR regions are not found in close apposition to L-type calcium channels in the surface sarcolemma, but still contain functional calcium release sites. This study used 3D electron microscopy to measure the average distance between cSR regions and then to reconstruct their position within the cell. It was found that the majority of cSR regions were close enough to elicit calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) (

Date of Award	31 Dec 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Holly Shiels (Supervisor) & Jonathan Codd (Supervisor)