Prior Freezing in Liquid Nitrogen has Minimal Impact on the Contractile Properties of Chemically Permeabilized Human Myocardium

Abstract

Experiments measuring the contractile properties of human myocardium are important for translational research but complicated by the logistical difficulties of acquiring specimens. Accordingly, many groups perform assays using samples that are acquired from patients at one hospital and shipped to another institution for experiments. This necessitates freezing the samples and performing subsequent assays using chemically permeabilized preparations. This study tested how prior freezing impacts contractile properties.