[Intermitochondrial contacts in a system of cardiomyocyte mitochondriome in a normal state, under physiological stress, and in pathology].

Intermitochondrial contacts are universal and indispensable structures participating in the formation of mitochondriome in cardiomyocytes of invertebrate and vertebrate animals; they participate in the maintenance of the energy pool required for rhythmic contractions of the heart. At the ultrastructural level, a direct relationship is demonstrated between the functional load on the heart and the number of intermitochondrial contacts in cardiomyocytes of swifts and rats: there was a twofold increase in the number of these contacts associated in actively flying adult birds as compared with chicks; a similar effect was observed in response to pressure overload associated with aortal stenosis; hypokinesia and hypoxia led to a twofold or even threefold decrease in their number.