Measurement of Cardiac Mechanical Function in Isolated Ventricular Myocytes from Rats and Mice by Computerized Video-Based Imaging

Abstract

Isolated adult cardiac ventricular myocytes have been a useful model for cardiovascular research for more than 20 years. With the recent advances in cellular physiology and transgenic techniques, direct measurement of isolated ventricular myocyte mechanics is becoming an increasingly important technique in cardiac physiology that provides fundamental information on excitation-contraction coupling of the heart, either in drug intervention or pathological states. The goal of this article is to describe the isolation of ventricular myocytes from both rats and mice, and the use of real-time beat-to-beat simultaneous recording of both myocyte contraction and intracellular Ca(2+) transient.

Fig. 1

IonOptix^TM video-based edge-detection cartoon. As the above panel illustrates, cell shortening and intracellular Ca²⁺ transients can be monitored simultaneously within the same cell. Figure provided courtesy of Dr. Doug Tillotson, IonOptix^TM.