Spatiotemporally Non-Uniform Ca(2+) Dynamics of Cardiac Purkinje Fibers in Mouse Myocardial Infarct.

Surviving Purkinje fibers in myocardial infarct are regarded as an important substrate in arrhythmogenesis. However, poorly understood are functional properties of Purkinje fibers in the infarcted heart. We sought to visualize intracellular Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)](i)) dynamics of Purkinje fiber networks in the mouse myocardial infarct. Using 3- to 4-day-old or 7- to 9-day-old infarcted hearts after the left coronary-artery ligation corresponding, respectively, to acute or healing phase, we conducted rapid fluo4-fluorescence imaging on the endocardial surface of the left ventricular septum by macro-zoom fluorescence microscopy and rapid-scanning confocal microscopy. In contrast with the intact heart, where uniform Ca(2+) transients propagated rapidly, the infarcted heart exhibited slow, non-uniform impulse propagations. On confocal microscopy, Purkinje fibers in the peri-infarct zone exhibited non-uniform [Ca(2+)](i) dynamics: beat-to-beat alternans of the Ca(2+) transient amplitude in and among the individual fibers, whereas the intact fibers exhibited uniform Ca(2+) transients. Such non-uniform [Ca(2+)](i) dynamics were more conspicuous in the acute infarcted hearts than in the healing ones. In accordance with [Ca(2+)](i) dynamics, fixed fluo4-loaded heart preparations exhibited definitive connexin-40 plaques in the peri-infarct Purkinje fibers, whereas the subjacent myocardium presented coagulative necrosis and granulation tissues, respectively. The surviving Purkinje fibers in the peri-infarct zone exhibited non-uniform [Ca(2+)](i) dynamics, which may lead to arrhythmogenesis.