Using computer-generated light patterns, researchers were able to control the direction of cardiac electrical waves (color maps), which form distinct spirals during arrhythmias.
(Credit: Eana Park)

A team of researchers from Stony Brook University and Oxford University uses light to control the electrical waves that regulate the rhythm of the heartbeat. The optogenetics-based method could be used to develop precise treatments for heart conditions like arrhythmias.

In their study, the team used a protein called channelrhodopsin, which was delivered to heart cells to make them light-responsive. Then, using a computer-controlled light projector, the team controlled the speed of the cardiac waves, their direction, and the orientation of spirals in real time.

The ability to provide fine control enables researchers to carry out experiments at a level of detail previously only available using computer models. The finding also provides an experimental platform in which researchers can compare those models to experiments with real cells, potentially improving the understanding of how the heart works.

“The level of precision is reminiscent of what one can do in a computer model, except here it was done in real heart cells, in real time,” said Dr. Emilia Entcheva, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Physiology & Biophysics, and Cardiology at Stony Brook Medicine.

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