Institute Physiologie und… Herz- und… Forschung Methods

Forschung

Methods

To analyse multiple aspects of cardiomyocyte differentiation, we employ a variety of methods and experimental techniques.

Cell culture

  • Heart isolations using Langendorff apparatus
  • Cardiac cell culture
  • Tissue engineering

Cardiac cell isolation by enzymatic dissociation.

Functional studies

  • Electrophysiology: patch clamp technique (voltage clamp and current clamp), electrical field stimulation
  • Confocal live cell imaging in parallel with electrophysiological measurements
  • Contraction studies using edge detection, combined with cytosolic Ca2+ measurements
  • Pharmacological tests

Simultaneous recordings of membrane currents using voltage clamp and Ca2+ transients by confocal imaging of fluo-3 in the linescan mode. Ca2+ transients are elicited by depolarization (left panels) or caffeine application (right panels).

 Structural studies

  • Immunocytochemistry and confocal imaging
  • Electron microscopy (TEM)