A Simple Technique for Isolating Healthy Heart Cells from Mouse Models

Abstract

Single heart cells of mouse models provide powerful tools for heart research. However, their isolation is not easy, and it imposes a significant bottleneck on their use in cellular studies of the heart. Aiming to overcome this problem, this report introduces a novel technique that reproducibly isolates healthy heart cells from mouse models. Using simple devices that ensure easy handling and the rapid aortic cannulation of a small mouse heart, cell isolation was done under physiological conditions without using the "KB" medium or 2,3-butanedione monoxime (BDM). The isolated cells consistently had a healthy appearance and a high viability of 75 ± 5% (mean ± SD) in Tyrode solution containing 1.8 mM Ca 2+ . After 8 h of storage at 37°C, they still had a viability of 45 ± 12%. The cells showed normal contraction properties when field-stimulated, and they generated normal action potentials and membrane currents under the whole-cell clamp condition. The β-adrenergic signal transduction of the cells was also normal when it was examined with the isoproterenol enhancement of the L-type Ca 2+ current.Key words: mouse, cardiac myocyte, contraction, action potential, ionic current.Single heart cells of mouse models provide powerful tools for heart research. In these cells, one can take advantage of the versatility of recent genetic engineering technology [1] and also of the accuracy of single-cell measurement techniques such as patch-clamp and Ca 2+ imaging. So far, molecular mechanisms of fundamental heart functions, such as excitation-contraction coupling, action potential shaping, and β-adrenergic signaling, have been successfully unveiled by using single heart cells of mouse models [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Moreover, these cells also provide a convenient platform for analyzing pathogenic mechanisms and the pathophysiology of hereditary heart diseases in molecular detail [8,9].For such single-cell studies, healthy heart cells are absolutely necessary; however, their isolation from mouse models is not easy. Surgery and aortic cannulation of a small mouse heart are hard to do and require a long time, and during that time, the heart suffers from complete ischemia. Consequently, the cells isolated from these hearts show various signs of ischemic damages, such as bizarre appearance, low viability levels, and abnormalities in their excitation and contraction properties. Cells of these kinds are hard to use for the experiment, and the data they provide are often difficult to interpret. This issue imposes a significant bottleneck on the use of mouse heart cells and is especially problematic in genetically engineered mouse models that are usually available only in limited amounts.To solve this problem, two major work-arounds have been devised and used for heart cell isolation from mouse models. One is to incubate the cells in high-K + , Ca 2+ -free "KB" medium at 4°C [10,11], and the other is to administer 10-20 mM 2,3-butanedione monoxime (BDM) in the media for cell isolation and storage [12,13]. Both workarounds proved to be...

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