A rabbit pulmonary vein myocyte isolation method based on simultaneous heart and pulmonary vein perfusion

Myocytes in the pulmonary veins (PV) play a pivotal role in the development of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). It is therefore important to understand physiological characteristics of these cells. Studies on these cells are, however, markedly impeded by the fact that single PV myocytes are very difficult to obtain due to lack of effective isolation methods. In this study, we described a novel PV myocyte isolation method. The key aspect of this method is to establish a combination of retrograde heart perfusion (via the aorta) and anterograde PV perfusion (via the pulmonary artery). With this simultaneous perfusion method, a better perfusion of the PV myocytes can be obtained. As results, the output and viability of single myocytes isolated by simultaneous heart and PV perfusion method were increased compared with those in conventional retrograde heart perfusion method.