Non-invasive Video Image-based Analysis Method Coupled to Field Potential Recording for Evaluation of the Drug-induced Effect in Cardiac Tissue

Abstract

Reports on the use multi electrode arrays (MEA) systems for screening the electrophysiological effects of drug candidates on cardiac tissues as a response to the need of the pharmaceutical industry for a high-throughput screening method have increased in the past decades. Though the field potential (FP) measured in MEA have been reported coherent to the progression of the well-established progression of action potential (AP), certain pharmacological effects do not accurately reflect in the observed FP waveform alteration. Here, we revisit the imaging analysis algorithm developed in our lab based on the pixel intensity variation that can be utilized to improve the FP measurement and interpretation. Imaging analysis was done on videos recorded with a microscope camera at 30 Hz frame rate and 680 × 510 pixel resolution resulting to a relative lower system requirement compared to other methods. It is expected that combining our method with MEA systems can greatly aid in developing a screening platform for cardiovascular effect profiling of candidate drugs.