Abstract 19248: Altered Cytoskeletal Mechanics in Cardiomyocytes Treated With Pediatric Heart Failure Serum

Introduction: Heart Failure (HF) in children is poorly understood with most clinical treatment paradigms extrapolated solely from adult practice. Emerging experimental and epidemiologic data suggest that the pediatric HF population is distinct from adult patients. We have recently developed an innovative primary cell culture model to investigated pediatric HF that treats primary neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) with serum from pediatric HF patients, specifically idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC) and single ventricle heart disease (SV). We showed that serum treatment results in changes in gene expression suggestive of pathologic remodeling. Hypothesis: Serum treatment resulted in changes in gene expression suggestive of alteration in actin polymerization. We hypothesized that serum treatment would affect cellular elasticity of the cytoskeleton resulting in altered whole-cell biomechanical behavior. Methods: We combined atomic force microscopy (AFM), molecular and cellular biology methodologi...