During drug development, a drug candidate has to be tested for cardiotoxicity in an early stage. The currently common in vitro tests usually investigate deviations of the electrical activity of all cardiac muscle fibers and changes in structure of cardiomyocytes derived from cell lines or human induced pluripotent stem cells.

The new method considers two other cardiac cell types that have been obtained from human iPS. In addition to heart muscle cells also heart endothelial cells and fibroblasts are considered, in a multi-layered three-dimensional form. The micro-tissues grow on special flat microtiter plates, cardiomyocytes show a stable heart beat for at least 28 days. In such quality the cells can be produced in large quantities, suitable for high throughput tests. For the latter, the company has developed a protocol for high-speed time-lapse imaging with the device ImageXpress® XL from Molecular Devices.

Original Publication:
Amy Pointon, James Pilling, Thierry Dorval, Yinhai Wang, Caroline Archer, and Christopher Pollard (2017): From the Cover: High-Throughput Imaging of Cardiac Microtissues for the Assessment of Cardiac Contraction during Drug Discovery. Toxicol Sci (2017) 155 (2): 444-457.

Further information:
https://doi.org/10.1093/toxsci/kfw227
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-technique-screen-cardiotoxicity-during-drug-high-assay-gutierrez-1?trk=v-feed&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_feed%3Bpsf34fMzRXgYeg2PavIjsg%3D% 3D

Also interesting:
https://www.moleculardevices.com/sites/default/files/en/asset/dd/scientific-posters/isscr-2017-in-vitro-cardiotoxicity-and-neurotoxicity-assessment-of-environmental-chemicals-using- organotypic-human ipsc-derived models.pdf