< Back to Applications SOLUTIONS FOR STEM CELL-DERIVED CARDIOMYOCYTES Over the last decade human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), as well as human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), have emerged as a model system complementary to classic approaches. These cells offer important advantages over typical adult ventricular cardiomyocytes, the most significant of which owing to their human genetic background. Despite their advantages, they are less mature, [...]

< Back to Applications SOLUTIONS FOR BLOOD VESSEL RESEARCH Blood flows within vessels throughout the body, carrying nutrients and metabolic end products to vital tissues. Precise control of blood pressure and flow is critically important to vascular function. Vasodilation (the relaxation of smooth muscle within vessel walls leading to vessel dilation, reduced blood flow and decreased blood pressure) and vasoconstriction (the constriction and narrowing of [...]

< Back to Applications SOLUTIONS FOR TISSUE CULTURE RESEARCH Proper maintenance of many cell types in culture extends beyond temperature and media. Electro-stimulation can be used in conjunction with normal tissue culture conditions to help maintain cellular phenotype or induce differentiation from progenitor cell populations. Several groups have shown that stimulated mechanical activity of cardiac myocytes in culture allows them to retain their phenotype while also [...]

< Back to Applications SOLUTIONS FOR MUSCLE TISSUE ASSAYS Lying between single cell and whole heart experimental studies, intact muscle tissue isolated from hearts offers unique advantages. Unlike single isolated myocytes, which represent the smallest fully functional model system, intact muscle can be used to study cardiac function while preserving the native myocardial tissue's multicellular environment, including both fibroblasts and myocytes.  And unlike whole heart [...]

< Back to Applications SOLUTIONS FOR ISOLATED MYOCYTES Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the industrialized world. The development of heart disease and, in turn, heart failure is most often a consequence of dysfunction within individual heart muscle cells, or cardiomyocytes. Individual cardiomyocytes represent the smallest fully functional model system of heart muscle that can be examined for ion regulation, force production, relaxation function, [...]