A Non-invasive Platform for Functional Characterization of Stem-Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes with Applications in Cardiotoxicity Testing

• Non-invasive characterization of cardiomyocytes using video motion analysis
• Assessment of single-cell, monolayer, or tissue cardiomyocytes in standard plates
• Drug screening by a label-free, contact-free imaging assay

SummaryWe present a non-invasive method to characterize the function of pluripotent stem-cell-derived cardiomyocytes based on video microscopy and image analysis. The platform, called Pulse, generates automated measurements of beating frequency, beat duration, amplitude, and beat-to-beat variation based on motion analysis of phase-contrast images captured at a fast frame rate. Using Pulse, we demonstrate recapitulation of drug effects in stem-cell-derived cardiomyocytes without the use of exogenous labels and show that our platform can be used for high-throughput cardiotoxicity drug screening and studying physiologically relevant phenotypes.

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