Love, exercise and, new research shows, an infrared laser can make a heart beat faster.
Scientists at Case Western Reserve University and Vanderbilt University found that pulsed light can pace contractions in an avian embryonic heart, with no apparent damage to the tissue. The work, "Optical pacing of the embryonic heart," will be published in the advanced online issue of Nature Photonics on Aug. 15, 2010.
According to the scientists, this non-invasive device may prove an effective tool in understanding how environmental factors that alter an embryo's heart rate lead to congenital defects. It may also lead to investigations of cardiac electrophysiology at the cellular, tissue and organ levels, and possibly the development of a new generation of pacemakers. ...
How does the laser make the heart beat?
The investigators believe a pulse of infrared light creates a temperature gradient in heart tissue that opens ion channels in a cascade along a heart cell. This effect spurs along an electrical impulse that makes the heart contract.
It's early in the research, "but we think this has exciting implications, especially if we can extend this into the adult heart," said Andrew Rollins, professor of biomedical engineering at Case Western Reserve.
via A heart beats to a different drummer.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
A heart beats to a different drummer
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1 comment:
"Optical pacing of the embryonic heart" sounds so poetic. Perhaps because it has the same number of words as, and nearly identical rhythm with "Eternal sunshine of the spotless Mind". (To my ears, only one beat differs.)
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