Morphological and biochemical studies on the heart of the cardiomyopathic Syrian hamster.

Histological and ultrastructural observations of embryonic hearts and cultured cells from hamsters with inherited cardiomyopathy (BIO 14.6 line) showed a significant delay in maturation of the sarcomeric units in comparison with those of unrelated healthy control hamsters. Phase-contrast microscopic observation of the cultured cardiomyocytes revealed more rapid diminution of beating frequencies in the diseased hamsters than in the controls. Negatively stained ultrastructure and yield of the actomyosin extracted both from the cardiomyopathic and the control hamsters showed no fundamental differences. Disc electrophoresis of the erythrocyte ghosts revealed, at least, a quantitative difference in one of the composing proteins between these two groups.