Still From A Video of Cardiac Cells

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Created 3/8/2011 6:00:00 AM

In this work we employ a combined experimental and theoretical approach to show that cardiac cells, separated by a soft solid medium, can interact with one another mechanically by deforming the substrate, and that this cell-cell coupling decreases with increasing distance between them, as well as the substrate stiffness. The work has implications in understanding the role of fibrotic rigidification of cardiac tissue after myocardiac infarction. Increased stiffness of cardiac tissue may decrease cell-cell mechanical interaction, potentially leading to cell death, unless the distance between the beating cells can be decreased by therapy.

Credits

• Taher Saif , Saif Laboratory
• Xin Tang , Saif Laboratory