Optogenetic termination of ventricular arrhythmias in the whole heart: towards biological cardiac rhythm management.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Current treatments of ventricular arrhythmias rely on modulation of cardiac electrical function through drugs, ablation or electroshocks, which are all non-biological and rather unspecific, irreversible or traumatizing interventions. Optogenetics, however, is a novel, biological technique allowing electrical modulation in a specific, reversible and trauma-free manner using light-gated ion channels. The aim of our study was to investigate optogenetic termination of ventricular arrhythmias in the whole heart.

Methods and results

Systemic delivery of cardiotropic adeno-associated virus vectors, encoding the light-gated depolarizing ion channel red-activatable channelrhodopsin (ReaChR), resulted in global cardiomyocyte-restricted transgene expression in adult Wistar rat hea

SUBMITTER: Nyns ECA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5837774 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature