Optical microscopy imaging for the diagnosis of the pharmacological reaction of mouse embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (mESC-CMs)

Abstract

Quantitative diagnosis of pharmacological chronotropic reactions on mouse embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (mESC-CMs) was successfully performed by utilizing derivative imaging analysis of videos recorded with a microscope camera at 30 Hz frame rate and 680 × 510 pixel resolution. The imaging analysis algorithm, developed in our lab, generated the contractile profile of the cells which was exploited for drug effect profiling. Six drugs such as isoproterenol (0.01–1 μM), quinidine (2–200 μM), propranolol (0.03–30 μM), verapamil (0.01–1 μM), sotalol (1–100 μM), and acetylsalicylic acid (0.1–10 μM) were administered and the quantitative medication effect was determined. Among the negative chronotropic agents administered, verapamil was found to be the most potent while sotalol was found to be the least potent at the micromolar level. Simultaneous measurement of the field potential and contractile motion in the verapamil effect test showed a coherent result. Moreover, this approach can provide insights into the contraction–relaxation conditions which are not available in the common electrophysiological approach. With these findings, it is expected that this study can aid in providing a simple and reliable in vitro mESC-CM-based screening platform for cardiovascular effect profiling of candidate drugs.