Guterl KA, Haggart CR, Janssen PM, Holmes JW. Isometric contraction induces rapid myocyte remodeling in cultured rat right ventricular papillary muscles. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 293: H3707-H3712, 2007. First published October 5, 2007; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00296.2007.-The hypothesis that elevated systolic stress induces myocyte thickening has been difficult to test directly. We tested this hypothesis in working rat right ventricular papillary muscles using a recently developed technique for long-term muscle culture. Muscles were cultured for 36 h either isometrically at different levels of systolic stress or at physiological amounts and rates of shortening. Isometric contraction induced rapid increases in myocyte diameter regardless of the level of systolic stress, whereas control myocyte dimensions were maintained if physiological amounts and rates of systolic shortening were imposed. Myocyte thickening was accompanied by a significant decrease in cell length and number of sarcomeres in series along the long axis of the myocyte, suggesting that thickening may have occurred in part by rearrangement of existing sarcomeres. We conclude that the pattern of systolic shortening and/or diastolic lengthening regulates myocyte shape in working rat right ventricular papillary muscles, whereas systolic stress plays little or no role. hypertrophy; pressure overload; volume overload; myocyte size; myocyte shape THIRTY YEARS AGO, Grossman et al. (8) articulated the hypothesis that systolic stress regulates parallel addition of sarcomeres in ventricular myocytes. In that study, Grossman et al. found that, in patients with long-standing hypertension, left ventricular wall thickness increased just enough to balance the elevated ventricular pressure and produce normal calculated systolic wall stress values. They proposed that elevated systolic wall stress might drive a parallel addition of sarcomeres, leading to myocyte and wall thickening that reduced wall stress in a classic negative feedback loop (8).Although this elegant and attractive hypothesis has been widely accepted, it has proved remarkably difficult to test directly. In vitro stretching of cultured myocytes has produced a wealth of information on the molecular pathways involved in cardiac hypertrophy (3,21,22,24), but the relatively unphysiological nature of this preparation has limited its value for exploration of the role of specific mechanical signals in regulating hypertrophy. In vivo models of hemodynamic overload alter not only mechanics but also the levels of hormones such as norepinephrine and angiotensin that can independently stimulate hypertrophy. Attempts to separate hormonal from mechanical effects using pharmacological blockers have produced mixed results (18). Finally, many of the mechanical signals that have been proposed as stimuli for hypertrophy covary in vivo. For example, pressure overload not only increases wall stress but also decreases stroke volume and related variables such as the amount and rate of systolic shortening (10).We used a...