Three-dimensional visualization of arrhythmogenic substrate in mouse hearts using panoramic optical mapping and...

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Research
• Medical Imaging
• Computational Biology

Background:

• Cardiac arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation and ventricular fibrillation, are linked to electrical and structural heart remodeling.
• Ex vivo optical mapping visualizes cardiac electrophysiology, aiding arrhythmia mechanism research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an integrated 3D panoramic optical mapping tool for simultaneous structural and electrical analysis of mouse hearts.
• To assess the tool's utility in studying cardiac arrhythmias and disease models.

Main Methods:

• Integration of 3D optical mapping with micro-computed tomography and deep learning-based segmentation using convolutional neural networks.
• Acquisition of epicardial electrical activity with submillimeter spatial and 1ms temporal resolution.
• Application in transgenic mouse models of spontaneous atrial fibrillation/ventricular fibrillation and surgical models of myocardial infarction/left ventricular hypertrophy.

Main Results:

• Demonstration of a novel technique for comprehensive 3D structural and electrical mapping of the mouse heart.
• Successful application in various mouse models exhibiting cardiac arrhythmias and structural changes.
• High-resolution, whole-epicardial surface electrical activity data acquisition.

Conclusions:

• The developed 3D optical mapping tool provides unprecedented insights into cardiac electrical and structural dynamics.
• This technology is valuable for investigating the mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias and cardiac remodeling.
• Facilitates advanced research in cardiovascular disease modeling and therapeutic development.