A. Arutunyan et al., Localized injury in cardiomyocyte network: a new experimental model of ischemia-reperfusion arrhythmias, AM J P-HEAR, 280(4), 2001, pp. H1905-H1915
Citations number
41
Categorie Soggetti
Cardiovascular & Hematology Research
Journal title
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-HEART AND CIRCULATORY PHYSIOLOGY
We developed a new experimental approach to study the effects of local inju
ry in a multicellular preparation and tested the ability of the method to i
nduce reperfusion arrhythmias in cardiomyocyte monolayers. A small region o
f injury was created using geometrically defined flows of control and ische
mia-like solutions. Calcium transients were acquired simultaneously from in
jured, control, and border zone cells using fluo 4. Superfusion with the in
jury solution rapidly diminished the amplitude of calcium transients within
the injury zone, followed by cessation of cell beating. Reperfusion caused
an immediate tachyarrhythmic response in similar to 17% of experiments, wi
th a wave front propagating from a single cell or small cell cluster within
the former injury zone. Inclusion of a gap junction uncoupler (1 mM heptan
ol) in the injury solution narrowed the functional border and sharply incre
ased the number of ectopic foci and the incidence of reperfusion arrhythmia
s. The model holds a potential to reveal both micro- and macroscopic featur
es of propagation, conduction, and cell coupling in the normal and diseased
myocardium and to serve as a new tool to test antiarrhythmic protocols in
vitro.