Microelectrode arrays: a new tool to measure embryonic heart activity

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Physiology
• Electrophysiology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Sequential excitation analysis of cardiac tissue is crucial for understanding arrhythmias and for experimental electrophysiology.
• Current clinical and experimental methods for recording cardiac activity have limitations in detail and scope.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the utility of substrate-integrated Microelectrode Arrays (MEAs) for analyzing cardiac excitation sequences.
• To assess the potential of MEAs in drug research and predicting cardiac conditions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized substrate-integrated MEAs with 60 electrodes (10-30 microm diameters) on a 100-200 microm grid.
• Coated electrodes with porous titanium nitride to minimize impedance for high signal-to-noise ratio recording of extracellularly recorded field potentials (FPs).
• Employed electrical stimulation to expand MEA applications.

Main Results:

• MEAs enabled high signal-to-noise ratio recording of FPs, providing detailed information on excitation origin and spread.
• Demonstrated the analysis of excitation spread and arrhythmic activity in various embryonic cardiac preparations.
• Showcased the potential for evaluating drug effects on cardiac networks.

Conclusions:

• Substrate-integrated MEAs are effective tools for analyzing cardiac excitation sequences and field potentials.
• This technology facilitates drug research and improves the predictability of cardiac physiological and pathophysiological conditions.
• MEAs offer a high-resolution approach for studying complex cardiac networks in embryonic heart tissue.