Multiple injury approach and its use for toxicity studies

Cardiovasc Toxicol. 2004;4(1):1-10. doi: 10.1385/ct:4:1:01.

Abstract

We present an experimental approach that allows exposure of cells plated on a single coverslip to multiple distinct environments. The original chamber design created a small region of injury using geometrically defined flows of the control and ischemic solutions. Modifications of the original chamber design presented in this article produce a range of flow patterns that can be advantageous for a variety of imaging applications. These applications include: experiments that address effects of different treatments applied to a cell network, parallel testing of negative and positive controls using a single coverslip, border effect studies, evaluation of the treatment's reversibility, and simultaneous monitoring of a cell layer loaded with different fluorescent indicators. The method also can be used to reveal both micro- and macroscopic features of propagation, conduction, and cell coupling in a normal or altered cardiac cell network. These possibilities are illustrated in cultures of neonatal rat cardiomyocytes using oxidant- and calcium-sensitive fluorescent indicators.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Arrhythmias, Cardiac / physiopathology
  • Cell Adhesion / physiology
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / pathology*
  • Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / physiopathology
  • Myocytes, Cardiac / pathology*
  • Perfusion
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Recurrence
  • Toxicology / methods*

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes