An ultrastructural study of the hypertrophied human papillary muscle cell with special emphasis on specific staining patterns, mitochondrial projections and association between mitochondria and SR.

Biopsy material of the hypertrophied human papillary muscle has been processed according to various electron microscopical techniques in order to study the mitochondrial ultrastructure and the association between mitochondria and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). En bloc staining with a Cu-Pb citrate solution resulted in specifically contrasted mitochondrial and sarcotubular membranes, characterized by numerous, discrete, electron-dense particles. The differences in staining patterns between the perinuclear mitochondria and their subsarcolemmal and interfibrillar counterparts suggest differences in chemical properties and/or metabolic activities. The selectively contrasted mitochondrial particles may represent a conglomerate of extrinsic and intrinsic respiratory enzymes and other membrane-associated proteins, while the majority of the electron-dense particles of the sarcotubular membrane may represent positively stained Ca2+-pumps. Ultrastructural findings in the present study strongly indicate that the slender mitochondrial projections represent an initial stage in a process leading to the formation of large and pleomorphic mitochondria. Intimate contact between adjacent mitochondria as well as between mitochondria and SR are documented. In the contact regions some of the specifically contrasted particles of the adjacent membranes had fused with each other. It is suggested that these particles represent membrane-bound transport proteins providing a system for inter-organelle exchange of metabolites and/or ions.