Age related changes of the collagen network of the human heart

The objective of this work was to study the collagen tissue of the human heart muscle as a function of age. The types of collagen, their disposition, as well as the density of collagen tissue and diameter of collagen fibrils were examined. Pieces of the ventricular wall from 12 human hearts, six fro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mechanisms of ageing and development 2001-07, Vol.122 (10), p.1049-1058
Main Authors: Gazoti Debessa, Célia Regina, Mesiano Maifrino, Laura Beatriz, Rodrigues de Souza, Romeu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aging - metabolism
Biological and medical sciences
Collagen - classification
Collagen - metabolism
Collagen fibers
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Heart
Human heart
Humans
Male
Morphometry
Myocardium - metabolism
Vertebrates: cardiovascular system
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Summary:The objective of this work was to study the collagen tissue of the human heart muscle as a function of age. The types of collagen, their disposition, as well as the density of collagen tissue and diameter of collagen fibrils were examined. Pieces of the ventricular wall from 12 human hearts, six from young individuals and six from aged individuals were studied by the Picrosirius–polarization method and by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results obtained showed the presence of two types of collagen fibers in the ventricular walls — thin, weakly birefringent, greenish fibers (collagen type III) and thick, yellow or red, strongly, birefringent fibers (collagen type I), both in the endomysium and perimysium. In the hearts obtained from old subjects, there were no significant differences in the arrangement of the collagen fibers in relation to the hearts obtained from young subjects. Measurements of collagen content in myocardial tissue suggest that both perimysial and endomysial collagen type I fibers increase in number and thickness in the old. These histochemical results obtained coincided with the electron microscopic observations in showing increase in the number of collagen fibrils with large diameter in the old hearts. These ultrastructural and histochemical characteristics of collagen may provide insights important to assessing the pathogenesis of the cardiac lesions of several cardiopathies in the aged heart.
ISSN:0047-6374
1872-6216
DOI:10.1016/S0047-6374(01)00238-X