ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Probing cardiac tissue water dynamics to understand overall tissue behavioural changes in Atrial Physiology and Pathophysiology

Abstract: An arrhythmia is a heart rhythm that isn't normal. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of heart arrhythmia affecting >1.4 million people in the UK. If untreated, AF can lead to stroke and other cardiovascular conditions. There is a need for innovative diagnosis and treatments for AF due to its global rising incidence. Heart problems or heart surgery, coronary artery disease, heart valve disease and heart problems present at birth increase the risk of AF. Those with lifestyle-related conditions such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and obesity [1], these broad cohorts are the main beneficiaries. AF is associated with atrial fibrosis. Fibrosis causes excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) in tissue, alters the water content and properties of the tissue. This increased ECM can trap water and alter the tissue's overall water content. We will probe cardiac tissue water dynamics to determine how the dynamics change between healthy and non-healthy tissue. We will use quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) complemented by MRI and electron microscopy. The work is timely because new data from Rebecca Burton?s lab implicates fibrosis and acidic organelles in AF. This study's data will be critical to molecular signalling laboratories worldwide studying cardiovascular diseases, including computational laboratories modelling integrative cardiac biomechanics, underpinning the study cardiac pathologies and development of potential treatment targets.

Principal Investigator: Dr Rebecca-Ann Burton
Local Contact: Dr Mona Sarter
Experimenter: Dr Parveen Sharma
Experimenter: Professor Harish Poptani

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2520143

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2520143

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Rebecca-Ann Burton et al; (2026): Probing cardiac tissue water dynamics to understand overall tissue behavioural changes in Atrial Physiology and Pathophysiology , STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2520143

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.