[Contractile apparatus organization of cardiomyocytes upon their cultivation in collagen gels].

Cardiomyocytes are known to change their morphology and reorganize the contractile apparatus upon their culturing in 2D culture systems. Therefore, the monolayer cardiomyocyte cultures appear to be a poor model for studying of the biologically important processes in the heart. Present study relates to the searching for the most optimal culture conditions allowing cardiomyocytes to maintein their typical morphology and the native state of contractile apparatus. In this study, we investigated organization of the contractile apparatus of cardiomyocytes when cultured in 3D collagen gels of different density. It has been shown that cardiomyocytes preserve the initial organization of their contractile apparatus during prolonged cultivation in collagen gels at a concentration of 1 mg/ml, whereas partial reorganization of their contractile apparatus is observed at a concentration of 0.5 and 1.5 mg/ml. Thus, cardiomyocytes placed in 3D collagen gels with a protein concentration of 1 mg/ml could be considered as a culture be model which approximates to the natural conditions.