Malalignment of the sarcomeric filaments in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with cardiac myosin heavy chain gene mutation

Abstract

Objective - To investigate changes in the alignment of the sarcomeric filaments in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and the effects of cardiac β myosin heavy chain (β-MHC) mutation on the sarcomeric ultrastructure. Design - A retrospective analysis. Patients - Endomyocardial biopsy samples were examined by transmission electron microscopy in seven patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and β-MHC mutation, six with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy but without the mutation, and five controls (with chest pain syndromes). Main outcome measure - Alignment of the sarcomeric filaments and the distance between neighbouring thick myosin filaments. Results - In controls, cross sections of the sarcomere at the A band showed a highly organised orthohexagonal array with 6 thin actin filaments surrounding one thick myosin filament, whereas in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy the alignment of the sarcomeric filaments was sparse and disrupted. In hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with a mutation, the distance between neighbouring thick myosin filaments was greater than in controls (mean (SD) 45.3 (4.7) v 38.5 (3.5) nm, p < 0.05), and the variance of the distance was greater than in controls (8.0 (0.7) v 4.8 (1.0) nm, p < 0.001) or in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy without a mutation (6.7 (0.6) nm, p < 0.05). In the latter, the variance of the distance was also greater than in the controls (p < 0.01). A significant correlation was found between the grade of the myocyte hypertrophy and the variance of the distance (r = 0.654; p < 0.01). Conclusions - The alignment of the sarcomeric filaments is disrupted in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, particularly when there is β-MHC mutation.