Development of a Platform that Measures Cardiac Contractility In Vitro

Heart failure is a leading cause of death worldwide, leading to a demand to develop models for heart disease. Animal models can be highly complex to implement and interpret, whereas simple cardiomyocyte (heart cells) cultures are limited in their capacity to represent various cardiac functionalities. The development of in-vitro models that mimic the physiological properties of the heart is therefore of particular interest. Nonetheless, despite significant advancements in in-vitro models, researchers still lack the capacity to obtain measurements of a key indicator of cardiac function: contractility, or stroke volume under specific loading conditions. A group of researchers, led by Dr. Moran Yadid from the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University, developed a magneto-responsive platform that enables measurements of this function. The platform is composed of hydrogel film with embedded magnetic nanoparticles and myocardial tissue culture on it. By applying an external magnetic field, the hydrogel film stretches, while the cell contraction is induced through electrical stimulation. The force of the contraction is recorded and force–length-based measurements of contractility are derived from the measurement, comparable to clinical measurements. As proof of principle, researchers used the platform to measure contractility both in untreated myocardial tissue and in tissue exposed to an inotropic agent, a reagent that changes the force of the heart's contractions. Clear differences were observed between conditions, suggesting that the proposed platform has significant potential to provide clinically relevant measurements of contractility.

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