Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is characterized primarily by left ventricular dilatation and impaired systolic function and is one of the leading causes of heart failure with high morbidity and ...

Muscle malfunctions may be as simple as a slight strain after exercise or as serious as heart failure and muscular dystrophy. A new technique now makes it possible to look much more closely at how ...

Scientists have produced the first high-resolution 3D image of the sarcomere, the basic contractile unit of skeletal and heart muscle cells, using electron cryo-tomography (cryo-ET). The international ...

Setting out to identify all proteins that make up the sarcomere, the basic contractile unit of muscle cells, resulted in an unexpected revelation, providing experimental evidence that helps explain a ...

In a heartbeat, cardiac muscle cells contract to push blood out to the body, then relax to allow the heart to fill again. This is possible because muscle proteins are organized into sarcomeres, which ...

Row 1 shows a schematic representation of the sarcomere. Row 2 shows the three-dimensional sarcomere organization and plasticity at the molecular level (filaments: pink and green, ?-Actinin: blue).

Atrial fibrillation, heart failure and stroke – hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can lead to many serious health conditions and is a major cause of sudden cardiac death in people younger than 35. „The ...