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Electromechanical Stimulation of 3D Cardiac Microtissues in a Heart-on-Chip Model

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Book cover Organ-on-a-Chip

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2373))

Abstract

Modeling human cardiac tissues in vitro is essential to elucidate the biological mechanisms related to the heart physiopathology, possibly paving the way for new treatments. Organs-on-chips have emerged as innovative tools able to recreate tissue-specific microenvironments, guiding the development of miniaturized models and offering the opportunity to directly analyze functional readouts. Here we describe the fabrication and operational procedures for the development of a heart-on-chip model, reproducing cardiac biomimetic microenvironment. The device provides 3D cardiac microtissue with a synchronized electromechanical stimulation to support the tissue development. We additionally describe procedures for characterizing tissue evolution and functionality through immunofluorescence, real time qPCR, calcium imaging and microtissue contractility investigations.

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Acknowledgments

The silicon master mold fabrication was performed at PoliFAB, the micro- and nanofabrication facility of Politecnico di Milano. We thank Dr. Barbara Bettegazzi for the kind provision of rat cardiac hearts.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 841975.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Roberta Visone, Paola Occhetta & Marco Rasponi

  2. BiomimX S.r.l., Milan, Italy

    Roberta Visone

Authors
  1. Roberta Visone
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  2. Paola Occhetta
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  3. Marco Rasponi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marco Rasponi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Marco Rasponi

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Visone, R., Occhetta, P., Rasponi, M. (2022). Electromechanical Stimulation of 3D Cardiac Microtissues in a Heart-on-Chip Model. In: Rasponi, M. (eds) Organ-on-a-Chip. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2373. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1693-2_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1693-2_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1692-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1693-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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