Reproducing the rhythmic electrical activity of the heart in vitro enables researchers to study how cardiomyocytes (CMs) respond to changes in pacing frequency in terms of contraction dynamics, electrical activity, and overall function. While electrical stimulation remains the gold standard, optical stimulation is emerging as a less invasive alternative with superior spatial and temporal resolution. Here, we propose a non-genetic, high-throughput optical platform for the stimulation of CMs cultured on microelectrode arrays, based on Ziapin2, a molecular phototransducer. Importantly, the system also incorporates a laser-based membrane poration module, allowing reliable access to intracellular signals. A user-friendly software was also developed for simultaneous analysis of multiple electrophysiological traces and to streamline data interpretation. Altogether, we propose a fully integrated, minimally invasive powerful platform for in vitro cardiac electrophysiology studies, with promising applications in disease modeling, drug screening, and fundamental research.
Florindi et al. (Thu,) studied this question.