A Simplified, Langendorff-Free Method for Concomitant Isolation of Viable Cardiac Myocytes and Nonmyocytes From the Adult Mouse Heart.

Rationale: Cardiovascular disease represents a global pandemic. The advent of and recent advances in mouse genomics, epigenomics, and transgenics offer ever-greater potential for powerful avenues of research. However, progress is often constrained by unique complexities associated with the isolation of viable myocytes from the adult mouse heart.

A Regional Reduction in Ito and IKACh in the Murine Posterior Left Atrial Myocardium Is Associated with Action Potential Prolongation and Increased Ectopic Activity.

Background: The left atrial posterior wall (LAPW) is potentially an important area for the development and maintenance of atrial fibrillation. We assessed whether there are regional electrical differences throughout the murine left atrial myocardium that could underlie regional differences in arrhythmia susceptibility.

Methods: We used high-resolution optical mapping and sharp microelectrode recordings to quantify regional differences in electrical activation and repolarisation within the intact, superfused murine left atrium and quantified regional ion channel mRNA expression by Taqman Low Density Array.