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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 33: Active cell and tissue mechanics (focus session) I

BP 33.4: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 3. April 2014, 10:30–10:45, HÜL 386

Characterizing the functionality of engineered cardiac tissue using computational motion tracking: A noninvasive alternative to electrophysiological methods — •Peter Loskill¹, Nathanial Huebsch², Natalie C. Marks¹, Anurag Mathur¹, Zhen Ma¹, C. Ian Spencer², Bruce R. Conklin², and Kevin E. Healy¹ — ¹Department of Bioengineering, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, United States — ²Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, San Francisco, United States

Drug discovery and development to date has relied on animal models, which are useful, but fail to mimic human physiology. The discovery of iPS cells has led to the emergence of a new paradigm of drug screening using human organ-like cultures in a dish. A crucial requirement for the application of in vitro organ models is the ability to characterize in situ their functionality. In the case of cardiac tissue, electrophysiological methods are commonly applied. These are, however, limited in terms of choice of substrate and versatility. To overcome these limitations, we have developed a user-friendly motion capturing software that quantifies the mechanical movement of engineered cardiac tissue. The software is based on a block matching algorithm and optimized to capture beating motions of cardiomyocytes and cardiac microtissue. Without the necessity for staining or tracers, multiple parameters such as beat rate, beat duration, and contractility can be obtained using phase contrast microscopy. The software was validated by comparing the obtained result to electrophysiological methods and was applied to study the drug response of various 3D cardiac tissue constructs.