A novel methodology to characterize beat-to-beat alternations in whole-cell calcium currents

An automated high-throughput procedure to quantify the degree of electrical beat-to- beat alternants in human atrial myocytes from electrophysiological recordings of the transmembrane ion currents of calcium ions (Ca2+) is presented and discussed. The patch clamp technique in whole-cell mode was use...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Marimon Serra, Xavier|||0000-0001-7653-6299, Cerrolaza Rivas, Miguel, Tarifa, Carmen, Hove Madsen, Leif
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2026
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/456384
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/456384
https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0339890
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria biomèdica
Descripción
Sumario:An automated high-throughput procedure to quantify the degree of electrical beat-to- beat alternants in human atrial myocytes from electrophysiological recordings of the transmembrane ion currents of calcium ions (Ca2+) is presented and discussed. The patch clamp technique in whole-cell mode was used to record the myocyte calcium signal. A database consisting of 24 patch clamp signals (N = 24) of which 13 had a uniform behaviour and 11 had an alternating behaviour, was created. Several fea- tures were computed to characterize the transmembrane ion currents: peak ampli- tude, time constants, and area under the ion current trace. The presented algorithm includes a feature detector whose accuracy has been validated using simulated calcium signals generated by an electrical model that accurately represents the cardiomyocyte behaviour in a patch clamp experiment. Among these calculated fea- tures, a new index measure, called the “alternation index”, is proposed in this work to quantify the degree of electrical beat-to-beat alternants. The index has been shown to be a robust measure (p = 0.01 **) for cell detection with an alternating pattern. Good agreement was observed with alternations in other calculated features like the measurement of the inactivation of L-type calcium current (Ica) or the tail current (ITail) generated by calcium extrusion upon repolarization.