(H-296) Quantifying Regional Cardiomyocyte Dimensions Following Left Bundle Branch Block

Heart failure affects 26 million people worldwide and is caused by many different pathologies, such as left bundle branch block (LBBB). This condition arises when the left bundle branch of the complex signaling network of nerves in the heart is partially or completely dysfunctional, and the current treatment of choice for LBBB is cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). The consequences of LBBB in cardiomyocytes, the cells that drive the cardiac remodeling process, are still unknown. Therefore, the objective of this project is to quantify anisotropic cardiomyocyte and myocardium dimensions in canine hearts affected by LBBB. From our preliminary histological and image analysis, we observed an increased length of cardiomyocytes in the lateral wall compared to the septal wall of the LBBB-inflicted heart samples. However, no clear increase in cardiomyocyte cross-sectional area, indicating a dilation, could be observed.