Key result
Confocal laser scanning microscopy revealed that calcium waves propagate between paired guinea-pig ventricular cells at a constant velocity of 93 µm/sec without delay at the cell-to-cell junction.
High-temporal-resolution confocal laser scanning microscopy demonstrates that calcium waves propagate continuously between guinea-pig ventricular cell pairs without delay at gap junctions.
Extends models of gap junction calcium continuity in ventricular myocytes; leaves open translation to human physiology or disease.
We describe here the use of a confocal laser scanning microscope for imaging fast dynamic changes of the intracellular calcium ion concentration ([Ca2+]i) in isolated ventricular cell pairs. The scanning apparatus of our system, paired galvanometer mirrors, can perform narrow band scanning of an area of interest at a high temporal resolution of less than 70 msec per image. The actual [Ca2+]i is obtained directly through the fluorescence intensity of injected fluo-3, which responds to changes of [Ca2+]i in optically sectioned unit volumes of the cell. Images of the calcium wave obtained during propagation between paired cells revealed that the wavefront is constant in shape and propagates at constant velocity without any delay at the cell-to-cell junction. The confocal laser scanning microscope with depth-discriminating ability is a valuable tool for taking pictures of the sequence of biological events in living cells.
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Takamatsu et al. (1991) studied Guinea-pig ventricular cell pairs. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was evaluated on Calcium wave propagation velocity and profile. Confocal laser scanning microscopy revealed that calcium waves propagate between paired guinea-pig ventricular cells at a constant velocity of 93 µm/sec without delay at the cell-to-cell junction.
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