Human Cardiac Slices
Human Cardiac Slices - Related Videos
09:35
Preclinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Assessment by Dual Voltage and Calcium Optical Mapping of Human Organotypic Cardiac Slices
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Cited by 11 •
2020
This protocol describes the procedure for sectioning and culturing human cardiac slices for preclinical drug testing and details the use of optical mapping for recording transmembrane voltage and intracellular calcium signals simultaneously from these slices.
11:51
Construction of Defined Human Engineered Cardiac Tissues to Study Mechanisms of Cardiac Cell Therapy
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Cited by 16 •
2016
This manuscript describes the creation of defined engineered cardiac tissues using surface marker expression and cell sorting. The defined tissues can then be used in a multi-tissue bioreactor to investigate mechanisms of cardiac cell therapy in order to provide a functional, yet controlled, model system of the human heart.
06:02
Anatomical Reconstructions of the Human Cardiac Venous System using Contrast-computed Tomography of Perfusion-fixed Specimens
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Cited by 9 •
2013
The objective of this research is to recreate and then access the anatomy of the human cardiac venous system using 3D reconstructions generated from contrast-computed tomography scans.
04:13
Generating and Maintaining Slice Cultures from Human Glioblastoma Tissue
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2025
The video demonstrates the generation and maintenance of organotypic slice cultures from glioblastoma tissue. The isolated tissue is embedded in an agarose matrix, and thin sections are obtained using a vibratome. These sections are then placed on permeable membrane inserts within a microplate and cultured in a slice culture maintenance media for long-term maintenance.
03:50
Preparing Free-Floating Slice Cultures from an Adult Human Brain
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2025
This video demonstrates a technique for preparing free-floating slice cultures from the adult human brain. Thin slices are generated from a brain section using a vibratome. These slices are then suspended in a culture medium supplemented with growth factors to maintain tissue viability.
FAQs
The preserved myocardial architecture maintains relationships among cardiomyocytes, extracellular matrix, and neighboring cells. These structural connections support native cell-to-cell signaling and allow researchers to examine electrical conduction, calcium handling, and contraction within an organized tissue environment. As a result, measurements can reflect interactions that are difficult to capture when cardiac cells are studied in simplified culture systems.
These measurements examine connected stages of cardiac function rather than an isolated response. Electrical conduction reflects signal propagation, calcium handling relates to intracellular activation, and contraction provides a functional mechanical outcome. Studying them together in cardiac slices helps researchers evaluate how changes in one aspect of myocardial behavior may correspond with changes in the others.
Cardiac slices occupy an intermediate position between simplified cell cultures and whole-organ experiments. They retain native myocardial organization and signaling that isolated or simplified cultures may lack, while allowing controlled experimental measurements that are more accessible than studies of an intact heart. This bridging role supports bioengineering research on tissue function and remodeling.
Preparation begins with surgical or donor heart tissue, which is processed into thin sections suitable for controlled investigation. The resulting samples preserve interconnected myocardial components and can then be evaluated for electrical, calcium-related, and mechanical behavior. This workflow gives researchers access to human tissue responses while maintaining features of the original cardiac environment.
Researchers can apply the model to questions involving arrhythmias, heart failure, and tissue remodeling. Because the slices preserve organized myocardial behavior, experiments can examine how these conditions affect conduction, calcium handling, or contraction under controlled settings. The approach therefore adds human tissue-level context to bioengineering studies that may be difficult to obtain from simplified preparations.
Human cardiac slices provide a tissue context for examining responses to drugs or engineered biomaterials. Researchers can assess effects through changes in electrical conduction, calcium handling, and contraction while retaining native extracellular matrix and cell interactions. These observations can inform regenerative cardiac therapies and help connect material or treatment performance with human myocardial function.