title: Studying dynamic events in the developing myocardium.
abstract: Differentiation and conduction properties of the cardiomyocytes are critically dependent on physical conditioning both in vitro and in vivo. Historically, various techniques were introduced to study dynamic events such as electrical currents and changes in ionic concentrations in live cells, multicellular preparations, or entire hearts. Here we review this technological progress demonstrating how each improvement in spatial or temporal resolution provided answers to old and provoked new questions. We further demonstrate how high-speed optical mapping of voltage and calcium can uncover pacemaking potential within the outflow tract myocardium, providing a developmental explanation of ectopic beats originating from this region in the clinical settings.
authors: Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic; Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors: Frantisek
authors: F
authors: Vostarek
authors: Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic; Institute of Anatomy, First Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors: Barbora
authors: B
authors: Sankova
authors: Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic; Institute of Anatomy, First Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. Electronic address: dsedmera@biomed.cas.cz.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Sedmera
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D018780:Body Surface Potential Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000502:physiology*; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000196:embryology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000502:physiology*; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000502:physiology; D056969:Voltage-Sensitive Dye Imaging / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Calcium imaging; Cardiac conduction system; Embryo; Heart; High-speed cameras; Optical mapping