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Dynamic Properties of Heart Fragments from Different Regions and Their Synchronization

Shin Arai1, Kento Lloyd1, Tomonori Takahashi1

  • 1Department of Physics and Mathematics, College of Science and Engineering, Aoyama Gakuin University, Kanagawa 252-5258, Japan.

Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland)
|August 6, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Heart tissue fragments exhibit autonomous beating, with synchronized dynamics observed when fragments are attached. This synchronization phenomenon, including 1:n patterns, occurs regardless of initial beat intervals and is crucial for cardiac research.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular Physiology
  • Developmental Biology
  • Regenerative Medicine

Background:

  • Heart tissue exhibits dynamic properties influencing blood circulation.
  • Autonomous beat activity, measured by inter-beat interval (IBI), persists in isolated cardiac tissue fragments.
  • Sub-millimeter scale beat dynamics are critical for cardiac regenerative medicine and computational modeling but remain under-analyzed.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze the beat dynamics of sub-millimeter cardiac tissue fragments from chick embryos.
  • To investigate the synchronization phenomena between paired cardiac tissue fragments.
  • To understand the influence of tissue region (atria vs. ventricles) and initial conditions on synchronization.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of beat dynamics in sub-millimeter atrial and ventricular tissue fragments from chick embryos over 40 hours.
  • Measurement of inter-beat interval (IBI) and contraction speed.
  • Observation and characterization of synchronization between physically attached fragment pairs.

Main Results:

  • Regional differences in IBI and contraction speed were observed, with atrial fragments maintaining their properties longer.
  • Physical attachment of fragment pairs led to synchronization, with varying probabilities and timing for atrium-atrium, ventricle-ventricle, and atrium-ventricle pairs.
  • Synchronization phenomena included 1:1 and 1:n synchronization, reentrant-like beat sequences, independent of initial IBI proximity. Mechanical motion was identified as a contributor to atrial synchronization.

Conclusions:

  • Cardiac tissue fragments retain autonomous beating properties, with regional variations.
  • Fragment-pair synchronization is a key emergent property, influenced by tissue origin and physical interaction.
  • These findings provide insights into cardiac tissue dynamics at the sub-millimeter scale, relevant for regenerative medicine and computational cardiology.

Keywords:
chick embryoheart tissue fragmentsynchronization

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