Sensing Cardiac Electrical Activity with a Cardiac Myocyte-Targeted Optogenetic Voltage Indicator

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Mei Ling Chang Liao - , Hamburg University of Technology (Author)
  • Teun P. De Boer - , Utrecht University (Author)
  • Hiroki Mutoh - , RIKEN (Author)
  • Nour Raad - , University Medical Center Göttingen, Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung (DZHK), Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (Author)
  • Claudia Richter - , Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (Author)
  • Eva Wagner - , University Medical Center Göttingen, Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung (DZHK) (Author)
  • Bryan R. Downie - , University of Göttingen (Author)
  • Bernhard Unsöld - , University Medical Center Göttingen, University of Regensburg (Author)
  • Iqra Arooj - , Utrecht University (Author)
  • Katrin Streckfuss-Bömeke - , University Medical Center Göttingen, Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung (DZHK) (Author)
  • Stephan Döker - , University of Göttingen (Author)
  • Stefan Luther - , Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung (DZHK), Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (Author)
  • Kaomei Guan - , Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung (DZHK), University Medical Center Göttingen (Author)
  • Stefan Wagner - , University Medical Center Göttingen, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, University of Regensburg (Author)
  • Stephan E. Lehnart - , University Medical Center Göttingen, Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung (DZHK) (Author)
  • Lars S. Maier - , University Medical Center Göttingen, University of Regensburg (Author)
  • Walter Stühmer - , Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung (DZHK) (Author)
  • Erich Wettwer - , University of Göttingen (Author)
  • Toon Van Veen - , Utrecht University (Author)
  • Michael M. Morlock - , Hamburg University of Technology (Author)
  • Thomas Knöpfel - , Imperial College London (Author)
  • Wolfram Hubertus Zimmermann - , Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislaufforschung (DZHK) (Author)

Abstract

Rationale: Monitoring and controlling cardiac myocyte activity with optogenetic tools offer exciting possibilities for fundamental and translational cardiovascular research. Genetically encoded voltage indicators may be particularly attractive for minimal invasive and repeated assessments of cardiac excitation from the cellular to the whole heart level. Objective: To test the hypothesis that cardiac myocyte-targeted voltage-sensitive fluorescence protein 2.3 (VSFP2.3) can be exploited as optogenetic tool for the monitoring of electric activity in isolated cardiac myocytes and the whole heart as well as function and maturity in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac myocytes. Methods and Results: We first generated mice with cardiac myocyte-restricted expression of VSFP2.3 and demonstrated distinct localization of VSFP2.3 at the t-tubulus/junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum microdomain without any signs for associated pathologies (assessed by echocardiography, RNA-sequencing, and patch clamping). Optically recorded VSFP2.3 signals correlated well with membrane voltage measured simultaneously by patch clamping. The use of VSFP2.3 for human action potential recordings was confirmed by simulation of immature and mature action potentials in murine VSFP2.3 cardiac myocytes. Optical cardiograms could be monitored in whole hearts ex vivo and minimally invasively in vivo via fiber optics at physiological heart rate (10 Hz) and under pacing-induced arrhythmia. Finally, we reprogrammed tail-tip fibroblasts from transgenic mice and used the VSFP2.3 sensor for benchmarking functional and structural maturation in induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac myocytes. Conclusions: We introduce a novel transgenic voltage-sensor model as a new method in cardiovascular research and provide proof of concept for its use in optogenetic sensing of physiological and pathological excitation in mature and immature cardiac myocytes in vitro and in vivo.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)401-412
Number of pages12
JournalCirculation research
Volume117
Issue number5
Publication statusPublished - 14 Aug 2015
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

PubMed 26078285

Keywords

Keywords

  • arrhythmias, cardiac, electrophysiology, heart, myocytes, cardiac, optical imaging, optogenetics, stem cells