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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 May 30.
Published in final edited form as: Free Radic Biol Med. 2011 Aug 30;51(11):1975–1984. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2011.08.022

Figure 8. Mechanical stretch is associated with myofibrillar structural abnormalities and mitochondrial swelling in isolated adult rat cardiomyocytes.

Figure 8

Upper panels demonstrate unstretched cardiomyocyte control, control + allopurinol (250 µM), control + Mito Q (50 nM) at 4,500× and 17,000×.

Lower panels demonstrated cardiomyocytes subjected to 3 hours of stretch and treated with either 250 µM allopurinol or 50 nM Mito Q. In the 3 hour stretch cardiomyocytes there is marked structural breakdown of myofilaments and Z-line (black arrows) and mitochondrial swelling and loss of electron density (white arrows) in stretched cells compared to controls. Z-line structural integrity and mitochondrial morphology are preserved by allopurinol or Mito Q pre-treatment.