BigHeart: Mapping connectivity in the adult human heart at the micron scale
- 1Institute of Cardiovascular Science, University College London, London, UK
Abstract
The human heart depends on coordinated muscular, electrical, vascular, lymphatic, and neural systems, but their three-dimensional relationships remain unresolved at microscopic resolution across an intact adult organ. Using hierarchical phase-contrast tomography, we generated a continuous three-dimensional structural reference of a whole adult human heart at 8.01 micrometer isotropic voxel size, without sectioning or staining. Organ-wide imaging revealed hierarchical myocardial architecture, and quantitative orientation analysis identified regional differences in myocardial cell aggregate organization. The atrioventricular conduction axis was traced into a distinct subendocardial Purkinje network interfacing with working myocardium. Integrated segmentation showed that coronary vessels, lymphatic collectors, and autonomic nerves occupy shared epicardial corridors. This publicly accessible dataset integrates cardiac systems within a common spatial framework for anatomy, computational modeling, and future molecular atlases.
Related
- Mapping the spatiotemporal continuum of structural connectivity development across the human connectome in youth
- Nociceptive Responses and Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Human Midbrain Tegmentum
- Prioritising Research through Engagement with older Adult Care Homes and potential for mapping to existing data sources: the PREACH study
- Mapping spatial colleague connectivity patterns from individual-level registry data to inform regional pandemic interventions
- Association between human immunodeficiency virus diagnosis and risk of penoscrotal conditions in adult males: A propensity‐matched retrospective cohort study
BibTeX
@misc{brunet2026bigheart,
title = {{BigHeart: Mapping connectivity in the adult human heart at the micron scale}},
author = {J. Brunet and A. C. Cook and A. Szmul and M. Use and L. Chestnutt and A. Sivananthan and H. Dejea and T. Urban and A. Bellier and V. Sabarigirivasan and E. Klaus and R. Torii and J. Jacob and P. Tafforeau and C. Walsh and P. D. Lee},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.11.750845},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.11.750845v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - BigHeart: Mapping connectivity in the adult human heart at the micron scale
AU - J. Brunet
AU - A. C. Cook
AU - A. Szmul
AU - M. Use
AU - L. Chestnutt
AU - A. Sivananthan
AU - H. Dejea
AU - T. Urban
AU - A. Bellier
AU - V. Sabarigirivasan
AU - E. Klaus
AU - R. Torii
AU - J. Jacob
AU - P. Tafforeau
AU - C. Walsh
AU - P. D. Lee
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/11
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.11.750845
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.11.750845v1
AB - The human heart depends on coordinated muscular, electrical, vascular, lymphatic, and neural systems, but their three-dimensional relationships remain unresolved at microscopic resolution across an intact adult organ. Using hierarchical phase-contrast tomography, we generated a continuous three-dimensional structural reference of a whole adult human heart at 8.01 micrometer isotropic voxel size, without sectioning or staining. Organ-wide imaging revealed hierarchical myocardial architecture, and quantitative orientation analysis identified regional differences in myocardial cell aggregate organization. The atrioventricular conduction axis was traced into a distinct subendocardial Purkinje network interfacing with working myocardium. Integrated segmentation showed that coronary vessels, lymphatic collectors, and autonomic nerves occupy shared epicardial corridors. This publicly accessible dataset integrates cardiac systems within a common spatial framework for anatomy, computational modeling, and future molecular atlases.
ER -