Heart and heart sympathetic nerves
(mouse)

Movie 1: 2D slice overview of the heart scan

Tissue/pathology:

Young adult male C57BL/6J control mouse heart

Antibodies:

488 Autofluorescence

Movie description:

Autofluorescence; horizontal view

Movie 2: 3D reconstruction of the heart structure based on autofluorescence.

Tissue/pathology:

Young adult male C57BL/6J control mouse heart

Antibodies:

488 Autofluorescence

Movie description:

Camera view into the chamber of the left ventricle, via the aorta, depicting the internal wall of the chamber. Blend rendering mode.

Movie 3: Full overview of the heart structure, vessels and sympathetic nerves

Tissue/pathology:

Young adult male C57BL/6J control mouse heart

Antibodies:

488 autofluorescence (AF, gray)
Smooth muscle actin (SMA, red)
Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH, green)

Movie description:

Close-up to the left ventricle wall coronaries and sympathetic nerve network. Maximal intensity projection (MIP) rendering mode.

Movie 4: Sympathetic innervation of a bigger coronary artery in a piece of left ventricle wall

Tissue/pathology:

Young adult male C57BL/6J control mouse heart

Antibodies:

488 autofluorescence (AF, gray)
Smooth muscle actin (SMA, red)
Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH, green)

Movie description:

The movie starts with a surface that was created to demonstrate the sample structure. Then, the surface (left ventricle wall) becomes transparent, then disappears, and zooms to an innervated large coronary branch. MIP rendering. 

Movie 5: A. pulmonaris semilunar valves and the initiation point of the main coronary arteries from the aorta ascendens

Tissue/pathology:

Young adult male C57BL/6J control mouse heart

Antibodies:

488 autofluorescence (AF, gray)
Smooth muscle actin (SMA, red)

Movie description:

First, we see the overview of the block (left ventricle, right ventricle, right atrium, aorta, a. pulmonaris). Then, the camera approaches the a. pulmonalis and shows the semilunar valves in high magnification (‘pockets’). Then, the SMA channel is switched on, and zooms to the initiation of the main coronary arteries that supply all the four main chambers. Blend rendering mode.

Movie 6: A group of intrinsic heart ganglion cells in the right atrium wall

Tissue/pathology:

Young adult male C57BL/6J control mouse heart

Antibodies:

Smooth muscle actin (SMA, red)
Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH, bluish)

Movie description:

These are probably primarily cholinergic ganglia, according to the literature, but also express noradrenergic markers (i.e. TH here), so exhibit mixed neurochemical phenotype. 

We see the surrounding coronary branches (red) and the ganglion cell bodies (bluish) that distribute like pearls or bunch of grapes. The axons form thick curly bundles, which then branch out and target mainly the atrial wall. Then zoom to some groups of ganglion cells and the MIP rendering mode switches to blend mode in order to better depict the shape of these small neurons.