A new model for the research into rhythmic contraction activity of cardiomyocytes in vitro

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 431-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Włodzimierz Korohoda ◽  
Anna Jurkiewicz ◽  
Izabela Figiel ◽  
Jarosław Czyż
Keyword(s):  
Image Analysis ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Contractile Activity ◽  
Glass Fibers ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Heart Cells ◽  
Heart Preparation ◽  
Chick Embryo Heart ◽  
Embryo Heart

Heart cells continue to contract rhythmically after isolation and in culture in vitro. We describe a model of heart preparation in vitro that permits quantitative research on the frequency of contractions of cardiomyocytes. The chick embryo heart explants placed on a network of elastic glass fibers continued beating for months, recorded and analyzed with the methods of computer-assisted image analysis. The efficacy of this experimental model for the screening of effects of various agents on the frequency of contractions was examined by following the effects of nifedipine, caffeine, ethanol, and benzamide. The reversibility of the effects and the reproducibility of results were demonstrated quantitatively. The significance of a mechanical elastic load provided by glass fibers for the preservation of long-lasting contractile activity of cardiomyocytes is discussed and the common occurrence of oscillatory contraction processes in various eucaryotic cells is noted.Key words: heart, contractility, benzamide, caffeine, nifedipine, ethanol, image analysis, cardiomyocytes.

FURTHER STUDIES ON THE DUAL REQUIREMENT FOR PHENYLALANINE AND TYROSINE IN TISSUE CULTURE

1961 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 925-932 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen J. Morton ◽  
Joseph F. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Tissue Culture ◽  
Chick Embryo ◽  
Heart Cells ◽  
Present System ◽  
Chick Heart ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Chick Embryo Heart ◽  
Embryo Heart ◽  
Related Compounds

Seventeen structurally related compounds were tested for their ability to substitute for phenylalanine or tyrosine in the nutrition of chick embryo heart fragments. DL-Alanyl-DL-phenylalanine replaced phenylalanine. All other compounds had negligible effects, and most were toxic at high concentrations. β-Phenylserine, a phenylalanine antagonist, actually prolonged the survival of chick heart cells but only if both phenylalanine and tyrosine were present. Similarly, optimal reversal of β-phenylserine toxicity was dependent on the presence of both amino acids. Although phenylalanine and tyrosine are not interconvertible in the present system, it has been shown that three phenylalanine antagonists, p-fluorophenylalanine, β-2-thienylalanine, and β-phenylserine, can be identified by their relationship to tyrosine, rather than to phenylalanine.

scholarly journals CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF THE MECHANISM OF THE GROWTH OF CONNECTIVE TISSUE

1913 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Carrel
Keyword(s):  
Connective Tissue ◽  
Culture Medium ◽  
Dynamic Condition ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Rate Of Growth ◽  
Independent Life ◽  
Tissue Cells ◽  
Chick Embryo Heart ◽  
Embryo Heart

When connective tissue cells have been cultivated for a certain length of time in a medium which has been repeatedly changed, a definite relation arises between the rate of growth of the cells and the composition of the medium. It is possible, by adding to the culture medium a given quantity of certain substances, such as embryonic juices, to foresee the extent to which a fragment of tissue composed of a given strain of cells will increase in a given time. The rate of growth of a strain of cells can be accelerated or retarded by the addition to the medium of activating or retarding substances. The dynamic condition of a strain of connective tissue cells, which have been living in a given medium for some time, is not a definitely acquired characteristic, but a temporary state, and is the product or function of the medium in which the cells are living, and is readily modified merely by altering the composition of the medium. A knowledge of the characteristics of the growth of connective tissue described has led to a new result,—the indefinite proliferation of a strain of connective tissue cells outside of the organism. The strain of connective tissue originally obtained from a fragment of chick embryo heart, which had been pulsating in vitro for 104 days, was still actively alive after sixteen months of independent life and more than 190 passages. The rate of proliferation of the connective tissue sixteen months old equalled and even exceeded that of fresh connective tissue taken from an eight day old embryo. It appears, therefore, that time has no effect on the tissues isolated from the organism and preserved by means of the technique described above. During the sixteenth month of life in vitro the cells increased rapidly in number and were able in a short time to produce a large quantity of new tissue. This fact, therefore, definitely demonstrates that the tissues were not in a state of survival, as was the case in certain earlier experiments, but in a condition of real life, since the cells of which they were composed, like microorganisms, multiplied indefinitely in the culture medium.

scholarly journals Fibrillation in the chick embryo heart in vitro II-The character and mechanism of the fibrillation

1935 ◽  
Vol 116 (800) ◽  
pp. 452-478 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Chick Embryo ◽  
Preceding Paper ◽  
General Character ◽  
Chick Embryo Heart ◽  
Embryo Heart

The production of this form of fibrillation, by means of excess potassium, calcium, or magnesium, has been described in the preceding paper. The present paper contains a description of the general character of the fibrillation, of its relation to the co-ordinate beat, and of experiments which lead to a hypothesis of its mechanism. The methods used were as in the preceding paper, and indeed much of the material was the same, but some was derived from older embryos, and in some the hearts, instead of being explanted entire, were cut into fragments of various sizes. Where it is not stated that this was done, or that the embryos were older than two to three days, it should be assumed that the embryos were of this age and that the hearts were explanted entire. No important difference of behaviour was seen between explants from younger and older embryos.

Production of nerve growth-stimulating factor(s) from chick embryo heart cells

1984 ◽  
Vol 152 (2) ◽  
pp. 427-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunilla Norrgren ◽  
Ted Ebendal ◽  
Herman Wikström
Keyword(s):  
Chick Embryo ◽  
Heart Cells ◽  
Nerve Growth ◽  
Chick Embryo Heart ◽  
Embryo Heart ◽  
Stimulating Factor
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