Structural variations of pectinate muscles across sheep and rabbit atria.

Abstract

The right and left atria play important roles in overall cardiac performance, both at rest and during exercise. Atrial dysfunction due to congenital or acquired heart diseases can result in significant disability or death. The prevalence of such conditions has been rising due to the increasing age of the population as well as the progressively larger number of patients with Grown-up congenital heart disease (GUCH). Left and right atria were collected from rabbits and juvenile sheep, and pattern recognition and image analysis were used to illustrate the microstructure and orientation of the pectinate muscles. The aim of this study is to observe the differences in the structure of the pectinate muscles in both rabbits and sheep. Through image analysis and pattern recognition, we were able to identify the orientation of the patterns that can help produce off-the-shelf patches that are capable of mimicking and/or reproducing most of the functions of normal atrial tissue. The microstructure of the pectinate muscles is unique and provides remarkable functionality to the atria.