Imaging calcium sparks in cardiac myocytes

Calcium ions play fundamental roles in many cellular processes in virtually all type of cells. The use of Ca(2+) sensitive fluorescent indicators has proven to be an indispensable tool for studying the spatio-temporal dynamics of intracellular calcium ([Ca(2+)](i)). With the aid of laser scanning confocal microscopy and new generation of Ca(2+) indicators, highly localized, short-lived Ca(2+) signals, namely Ca(2+) sparks, were revealed as elementary Ca(2+) release events during excitation-contraction coupling in cardiomyocytes. Since the discovery of Ca(2+) sparks in 1993, the demonstration of dynamic Ca(2+) micro-domains in living cardiomyocytes has revolutionized our understanding of Ca(2+)-mediated signal transduction in normal and diseased hearts. In this chapter, we have described a commonly used method for recording local and global Ca(2+) signals in cardiomyocytes using the fluorescent indicator fluo-4 acetoxymethyl (AM) and laser scanning confocal microscopy.