Event Abstract Back to Event The xCELLigence CardioECR: Simultaneous and Multi-Parametric Functional Analysis of Cardiomyocytes Silke Schwengberg1* 1 Cells at Work Consulting and Services, Germany The RTCA CardioECR is the first platform to allow simultaneous measurement of cardiomyocyte contractility and field potential in real time. It combines impedance and field potential electrodes with a pacing function. The system is designed to be placed in a standard cell culture incubator with physiological temperature, CO2 level and humidity, allowing better controlled assays with both short-term and long-term measurements. Current systems are usually focusing on only one parameter of cardiomyocyte function, i.e. electrophysiology (e.g. PatchClamp, MEA), calcium transients (e.g. Ca-sensitive dyes), or contractility (e.g. xCELLigence RTCA Cardio, muscle preparations). No system so far was capable of a simultaneous dual readout of electric parameters and contractility. The xCELLigence CardioECR system also enables a longer-term measurement of structural cardiotoxicity by means of changes in overall impedance. Heart of the system is the so called E-Plate CardioECR 48, which features two types of recording electrodes in each well (Fig. 1): - The interdigitated gold microelectrode configuration enables real-time measurement of impedance, providing sensitive and real-time detection of cell viability and contractile activities. - The additional point electrodes allow for extracellular field potential measurements, which can be performed simultaneously with impedance recording. - For the electrical pacing function, the impedance electrode array is used. Fig. 2 shows a trace of impedance and field potential signals from stem cell derived cardiomyocytes with (upper lines) and without (lower lines) pacing. Due to the simultaneous recording, the xCELLigence CardioECR can be used to measure the the precise timing of the electrical and contractile activity in these cells, similar to the Electro-Mechanical Window derived from the organ or animal (Fig. 3). In the heart, the intricate relationship between electrical signal and mechanical output or contraction is crucial to its function; this relationship is also preserved in isolated or stemcell-derived cardiomyocytes. The determination of the EMW will help to getting a better understanding of the mode-of-action of a compound. The xCLLigence CardioECR system will provide significant benefit to the pharmaceutical industry as well as for basic cardiology research. It is well aligned with the FDA CiPA initiative (Comprehensive In Vitro Proarrhythmia Assay), which seeks to develop a new paradigm for cardiac safety evaluation of new drugs that utilizes high throughput, predictive and mechanistic assays which can identify pro-arrhythmic compounds earlier in the drug discovery process. The system is part of the validation studies to use cardiomyocyte model systems together with platforms that can provide incisive information on the pro-arrhythmic risk of compounds. Figure Legends: Fig. 1: Layout of the xCELLigence CardioECR electrode array Fig. 2: Overlay of impedance and field potential recording measured within the same wells; with (upper lines) and without (lower lines) pacing. Fig. 3: Determination of the "Electro-Mechanical-Window" in stemcell-derived cardiomyocytes from the xCELLigence CardioECR tracings. Figure 1 Conference: MEA Meeting 2016 | 10th International Meeting on Substrate-Integrated Electrode Arrays, Reutlingen, Germany, 28 Jun - 1 Jul, 2016. Presentation Type: oral Topic: MEA Meeting 2016 Citation: Schwengberg S (2016). The xCELLigence CardioECR: Simultaneous and Multi-Parametric Functional Analysis of Cardiomyocytes. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: MEA Meeting 2016 | 10th International Meeting on Substrate-Integrated Electrode Arrays. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2016.93.00112 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 22 Jun 2016; Published Online: 24 Jun 2016. * Correspondence: Dr. Silke Schwengberg, Cells at Work Consulting and Services, Düren, Germany, silke.schwengberg@cells-at-work.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Silke Schwengberg Google Silke Schwengberg Google Scholar Silke Schwengberg PubMed Silke Schwengberg Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. 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