Interest in the physiology and pathology of the heart has led to a substantial increase in
the number of laboratories studying the myocardium at the cellular level using isolated
cardiac muscle cells or myocytes. Although excitation-contraction (EC) coupling, the
process by which electrical stimuli induce a mechanical response in myocytes, has been
an area of intense investigation for over half a century, elucidation of the fundamental
molecular and biophysical mechanisms remains at the forefront of cardiovascular research.
Impairment to the regulatory machinery governing EC coupling correlates
strongly with the onset and progression of many myopathies. Cellular dimensioning and
intracellular calcium recordings offer an important measure of EC coupling in isolated
myocytes and myofibers while also providing key insights into the processes that affect
cardiovascular health.

Myocyte Calcium & Contractility Recording System (MMSYS) -IonOptix- includes:

- everything necessary for simultaneously acquiring and analyzing calcium and cellular geometry data with our new IonWizard 6 software,

- an inverted fluorescence microscope equipped with a calcium photometry
objective and brilliant optics,

- a cell stimulator with a stimulation/superfusion chamber and temperature control,

- a suite of A/D analog and digital connections for synchronous data collection.