Isolate functional cardiomyocytes with certainty
Cardiomyocytes are the long muscle cells that form the wall of the heart and contract and extend with every beat. Most of our cardiomyocytes are already present in our bodies when we are born, grow by increasing their size, and remain with us for a lifetime. Cell division is a rare event for cardiomyocytes, which explains why their regenerative power after a heart attack is very limited.
Isolated neonatal cardiomyoctyes are an established cell model used in research to understand the interplay of cardiomyocytes with other heart cell types, such as fibroblasts and endothelial cells, in generating a synchronous heart contraction, and to uncover biochemical mechanisms and pathways that might promote regeneration. An intriguing prospect for this research is to obtain engineered cardiac tissue that could be used to surgically replace damaged heart regions. Pure and extensively characterized preparations of fully functional cardiomyocytes are at the core of this research because they ensure relevance of the obtained results.