A sensitive flow-through microcalorimeter for measuring the heat production of cardiac trabeculae

A Taberner; R Kirton; P F Nielsen; D Loiselle; I Hunter

doi:10.1109/IEMBS.2004.1403597

A sensitive flow-through microcalorimeter for measuring the heat production of cardiac trabeculae

Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2004:2004:2030-3. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2004.1403597.

Authors

A Taberner¹, R Kirton, P F Nielsen, D Loiselle, I Hunter

Affiliation

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.

PMID: 17272117
DOI: 10.1109/IEMBS.2004.1403597

Abstract

Measurement of the energy consumption of isolated cardiac muscle requires a flow-through microcalorimeter with sensitivity in the microW range. In this paper we describe and characterize a sensitive flow-through microcalorimeter, designed and constructed for measuring the heat output of cardiac trabeculae. The device exploits a non-contact, temperature-sensing technique utilizing infra-red-sensitive, thin-film thermopile sensors. The microcalorimeter achieves a sensitivity of 1.8-1.9 V/W at a flow rate of 1 microl/s, with a time constant of approximately 3.5 s. The typical power signal-to-noise ratio is better than 200. Predictions of a finite element model of the calorimeter's characteristics compare favourably with measured data.