title: Electrical stimulation of primary neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes using pacemakers.
abstract: The study of gene regulation in cardiac myocytes requires a reliable in vitro model. However, monolayer cultures used for this purpose are typically not exposed to electrical stimulation, though this has been shown to strongly affect cardiomyocyte gene expression. Based on pacemakers for clinical use, we developed an easy-to-use portable system that allows the user to perform electro-stimulation of cardiomyocyte cultures in standard tissue incubators without the need for bulky equipment. In addition, we present a refined protocol for culturing high-purity cardiomyocyte cultures with excellent contractile properties for a wide variety of applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Genomics, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ruben S R M
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Martherus
authors.forename: Volkert A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Zeijlemaker
authors.forename: Torik A Y
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Ayoubi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew