CRO PhysioStim has recently developed a cardiac model to help test for pharmaceutical-induced toxicity outside the body to provide an overall view of cardiac physiological mechanism
PhysioStim is a CRO (contract research organisation) expert in cardiac safety pharmacology.
It performs in vitro electrophysiological studies for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in compliance with to good laboratory practices (GLP), the European (EMEA) and American (FDA) directives, and the ICHS7A and S7B guidelines.
Testing to detect a possible risk of cardiac toxicity induced by pharmaceuticals is a crucial point during the preclinical R+D stage.
This highly specialised area in which PhysioStim has acquired solid and reliable expertise is particularly represented by the hERG assays, potassium channels essential in the problems of cardiac repolarisation.
Nevertheless, to obtain a much more comprehensive and integrative approach of cardiac problems, PhysioStim's experts also propose cardiac action potential recordings, mimicking in vitro the electrophysiological properties typically observable in vivo.
To broaden its range of expertise, PhysioStim is setting up a new model on isolated cardiomyocytes that will record every type of ionic current and action potential.
This model will provide an overall view of cardiac physiological mechanisms, drawn up at cellular level.
The obtained isolated cells show the proteinic structures and the physiological and biochemical properties preserved, with the advantage of providing a population of cells without neuronal or hormonal influence in a totally controllable environment.
