Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia observed in the clinic, considerable effort has been made to identify the cellular mechanisms of AF and develop new safe and effective antiarrhythmic drugs(1). However, preclinical studies using non-cardiac cells and non-human animal models may not replicate the physiology of human atrial cardiomyocytes or predict patient efficacy and safety.
Here we outline our results from studies to validate human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived atrial cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-ACMs) generated by Axol Bioscience.
We developed a high-throughput, electrophysiological assay of TREK-1 function to identify novel modulators. The assay was optimized to identify both activators and inhibitors, providing comprehensive mechanistic data for high value, limited supply screening libraries, such as the venom fraction library used in this study (Targeted Venom Discovery Array, T-VDA, Venomtech, UK).
Scientifica’s PatchScope Pro is an integrated electrophysiology rig incorporating an inverted phase-contrast fluorescence microscope, motorised XY stage and PatchStar micromanipulators, suitable for patch-clamp recording.