3D Analysis of the Myocardial Microstructure : Determination of Fiber and Sheet Orientations

The master thesis of Johanna Maria Ticar reveals high-resolution insights into the myocardial microstructure and illustrates that cardiac muscle fibers are straight, running in parallel with one preferred fiber direction, however, deposits such as fat seem to compromise the regular and compact structure. Second harmonic generation imaging combined with optical tissue clearing is an accurate method for determining the three-dimensional muscle fiber and sheet orientations and hence, allows the calculation of fiber rotation throughout the ventricle wall. Contents #xF06E; Structure of the Human Myocardium #xF06E; Imaging Tools for Fiber Mapping #xF06E; Optical Tissue Clearing #xF06E; Second Harmonic Generation Imaging #xF06E; 3D Reconstruction and Visualization Target Groups #xF06E; Researchers and Students in the field of Biomedical Engineering with a focus on Bioengineering and Biomechanics #xF06E; Professionals in the field of Biomedicine The Author Johanna Maria Ticar, MSc, studied Biomedical Engineering at Graz University of Technology. Her research interests are the microstructure of the human body, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, foremost in the field of cardiology The master thesis of Johanna Maria Ticar reveals high-resolution insights into the myocardial microstructure and illustrates that cardiac muscle fibers are straight, running in parallel with one preferred fiber direction, however, deposits such as fat seem to compromise the regular and compact structure. Second harmonic generation imaging combined with optical tissue clearing is an accurate method for determining the three-dimensional muscle fiber and sheet orientations and hence, allows the calculation of fiber rotation throughout the ventricle wall. Contents l̐ʼ Structure of the Human Myocardium l̐ʼ Imaging Tools for Fiber Mapping l̐ʼ Optical Tissue Clearing l̐ʼ Second Harmonic Generation Imaging l̐ʼ 3D Reconstruction and Visualization Target Groups l̐ʼ Researchers and Students in the field of Biomedical Engineering with a focus on Bioengineering and℗lBiomechanics l̐ʼ Professionals in the field of Biomedicine The Author Johanna Maria Ticar, MSc, studied Biomedical Engineering at Graz University of Technology. Her research interests are the microstructure of the human body, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, foremost in the field of cardiology Acknowledgment 6 Contents 7 List of Figures 8 Abstract 11 Kurzfassung 12 1 Introduction 13 2 Materials and Methods 19 2.1 Materials 19 2.2 Methods 20 2.2.1 Diffusion tensor imaging 21 2.2.2 Multi-photon microscopy 24 3 Results 40 3.1 Diffusion tensor imaging 40 3.2 Multi-photon microscopy 41 3.2.1 Three-dimensional reconstruction and visualization 41 3.2.2 Data analysis 49 4 Discussion 71 4.1 Diffusion tensor imaging 71 4.2 Multi-photon microscopy 73 Bibliography 83 Front Matter....Pages I-XV Introduction....Pages 1-6 Materials and Methods....Pages 7-27 Results....Pages 29-59 Discussion....Pages 61-72 Back Matter....Pages 73-76