ENDOMYOCARDIAL BIOPSIES - A NEW APPROACH FOR STUDYING THE ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF HUMAN VENTRICULAR MYOCARDIUM

The novel endomyocardial biopsy approach described here could facilita te the study of some human pathologies for which tissue specimens are currently unavailable. Electrical and mechanical characteristics such as rate responses, effect of extracellular calcium concentration chang es and beta-adrenergic tone were similar to those determined for other human ventricular tissues, indicating that endomyocardial biopsies ar e suitable for physiological studies. This new source of cardiac tissu es should facilitate the investigation of cellular mechanisms involved in the development of previously inaccessible human diseases.