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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2005;28:365-366
© 2005 Elsevier Science NL

Letter to the Editor

Reply to Criscione et al. ‘Sol Incit Omnibus’

Francisco Torrent-Guasp a , {maltese cross} , Mladen J. Kocica b , * , Antonio F. Corno c , Francesc Carreras-Costa d

a Denia, Alicante, Spain
b Clinic for Cardiac Surgery, Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, UC Clinical Centre of Serbia, 8th Kosta Todorovic St., 11000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro
c University of Liverpool Alder Hey Royal Children Hospital, Liverpool, UK
d Department of Cardiology, Cardiac Imaging Unit, Hospital Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain

Received 14 April 2005; accepted 22 April 2005.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +381 11 3670609; fax: +381 11 3610880. (Email: kocica{at}sezampro.yu). (URL: www.ctsnet.org/home/mkocica).

Key Words: Ventricle • Anatomy • Myocardium • Physiology

It was quite difficult for us to systematize and decode confusing message(s) sent by Criscone and associates. Should we focus our attention on pearls-of-wisdom ‘adopted’ from Henry Louis Mencken, or should we try to see how does helical ventricular myocardial band (HVMB) violate conservation law equations (which one and how?), or both, or something else, or nothing?

On the outside wall of the Francisco Torrent-Guasp's laboratory, as viewed from his beautiful patio, there is (not accidentally) a sun clock with carved message: ‘Sol Incit Omnibus’. For those who were blessed to work with Paco, the meaning of it remains perfectly clear. For others, who are prone to believe that Mencken's (although charming) talent for the iconoclastic criticism could be an accurate explanation of somebody's life-time work, we offer an alternative view.

Contemporary science has to adopt a new way of thinking, which has emerged from rapid accumulation of knowledge at different levels. Completion of the ‘Book of Life’, along with achievements in other biological and non-biological sciences, has imposed a paradigm shift, necessitating integration and linking across multiple scales of biological organization—from proteins to cells, tissues, organs and organ systems—in order to understand a complexity of interactions between form and function, generating a specific behavior (normal or abnormal) in biological system. Such a difficult task, as we have claimed many times before [1,2], requires throughout co-operation over different scientific areas (i.e. additive synergism instead of competitive antagonism).

Continuum mechanics, which provides a mathematical framework for integrating the structure of the cell and tissue to the mechanical function of the whole organ, is undoubtedly important tool, but definitively not the ultimate goal of the integrative approach towards better understanding of heart structure and function [3]. Moreover, hierarchically, the biological principles are setting the boundaries which should be recognized and respected by those who intend to create constitutive equations of the heart. Biological correlates of geometry and structure of the ‘complicated geometrical bodies’ are still called ‘the anatomy of heart’ (micro- and macroscopic). Evolution of knowledge about the rule-based assignment of different trajectories followed in the space by each ventricular myocardial fiber (i.e. ‘Gordian knot of Anatomy’ as considered by Pettigrew) was clearly depicted in our review [1], including recent contributions and different schools of thinking. Thus, no matter how ‘simple’ the result might seem to some ‘consumers’, in a reality, the HVMB concept came out from 50 years of Torrent-Guasp's dedication and the experimental work. If understood properly [1,2,4,5], HVMB might be the unifying principle of form and function at organ level—the one about which was claiming Mall [6], that applies equally well to all the ventricular myocardial fibers, showing them joined together in a coherent common general architectural plan.

Is it wrong just because somebody thinks that it is simple? Does it prevent further researches in a field, or prohibit alternative (better) solutions?

‘Sol incit omnibus’—therefore, for the sake of scientific prosperity, please provide us with a better solution. We would try our best to understand it, no matter how complex it appears.

Footnotes

{maltese cross} Deceased Back

References

  1. Torrent-Guasp F, Kocica MJ, Corno AF, Komeda M, Carreras-Costa F, Flotats A, Cosin-Aguillar J, Wen H. Towards new understanding of the heart structure and function. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2005;27(2):191-201.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  2. Torrent-Guasp F, Kocica MJ, Corno AF, Komeda M, Cox JL, Flotats A, Ballester-Rodes M, Carreras-Costa F. Systolic ventricular filling. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2004;25(3):376-386.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  3. Hunter PJ, Pullan AJ, Smaill BH. Modeling total heart function. Annu Rev Biomed Eng 2003;5:147-177.[CrossRef][Medline]
  4. Streeter Jr DD. Gross morphology and fiber geometry of the heart. In: Berne RM, Sperelakis N, editors. Handbook of physiology section 2. The Heart (American Physiology Society). vol. 1. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins; 1979. pp. 61-112.
  5. Arts T, Costa CD, Covell JW, McCulloch AD. Relating myocardial laminar architecture to shear strain and muscle fiber orientation. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2001;280:H2222-H2229.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  6. Mall FP. On the muscular architecture of the ventricles of the human heart. Am J Anat 1911;11:211-266.[CrossRef]




This Article
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Mladen J. Kocica
Antonio F. Corno
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Right arrow Cardiac - physiology
Right arrow Cardiac - other

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