The Department of Cardiac Physiology at the University of Manchester is finding the speed and power of the new Leica TCS SP2 RS Confocal System to be invaluable
The Department of Cardiac Physiology at the University of Manchester is finding the speed and power of the new Leica TCS SP2 RS Confocal System from Leica Microsystems invaluable for investigating the role of calcium flux on cardiac function. British Heart Foundation Chairholder Professor David Eisner explained: "We have known for several years that the human heartbeat is regulated by in-built triggers called calcium sparks.
We are interested in the mechanisms that cause abnormal release of calcium that can lead to conditions like heart failure, arrhythmia and coronary heart disease." "We chose the Leica system because it acquires images very quickly, an important factor when you consider the initial calcium rise is complete within roughly 20 milliseconds.
Also, as it is a multiphoton system, there is the potential to look several hundred microns into the heart tissue and see how calcium moves between cells, something that isn't possible with other systems." "We went over to Leica's plant in Mannheim to trial the prototype system and were able to talk to the engineers who were building it and make suggestions.
We are very impressed by what we've seen - everything Leica has promised it has delivered," concluded David.
