Novel stretchable electronics platform for simultaneous high‐density electrical and optical recordings from ex vivo hearts

Abstract

Although there are protocols for studying high‐resolution cardiac propagation on the bench top, there is a great need to develop a comparable monitoring strategy on intact hearts in vivo. Novel, stretchable electrodes offer the ability to measure electrical data from the dynamic beating heart without interrupting mechanical contractions. We developed a mechanically compliant, transparent sock electrode for measuring surface electrograms from a beating Langendorff perfused rabbit heart. Using a matrix of nanomembrane transistors, submillimeter and submillisecond resolution can be obtained. The purpose of this study was to correlate simultaneous high‐density surface electrograms with optical mapping recordings in explanted heart preparations. Perfusion was maintained at a constant pressure of 60 mmHg and electrical recordings were collected prior to and after mechanical uncoupling with Blebbistatin in sinus rhythm, epicardially paced through an external stimulator and through the electrode array, and during pinacidil induced ventricular arrhythmias. Optical mapping was performed only after mechanical uncoupling. Preliminary results show that the propagation maps created from the array of electrodes contains adequate activation, repolarization and conduction velocity information of normal and aberrant rhythms, verified by the optical recordings.supported by NIH Grant RO1 HL067322