Heart slice culture is a technique that allows researchers to study the structural and functional properties of heart tissue in a controlled laboratory setting. This technique involves slicing thin sections of heart tissue and placing them in a culture medium that provides the necessary nutrients and support for the cells to survive and grow. In recent years, our laboratory made the heart slice culture to become an invaluable tool for cardiovascular research. It allows scientists to investigate a wide range of topics, including cardiac electrophysiology, contractility, metabolism, and responses to various stimuli. By studying heart tissue in this controlled environment, researchers can gain insights into the mechanisms underlying cardiac diseases and identify potential therapeutic targets.
The important application of heart slice culture is in drug discovery and development. By testing the effects of different compounds on heart tissue slices, researchers can identify potential drug candidates and assess their safety and efficacy. This approach can help accelerate the drug development process and reduce the reliance on animal models.
Selected Publications
Qinghui Ou, Zoë Jacobson, Riham R E Abouleisa, Xian-Liang Tang, Sajedah M. Hindi, Ashok Kumar, Kathryn N. Ivey, Guruprasad Giridharan, Ayman Al-Baz, Kenneth Brittian, Benjamin Rood, Bradford G. Hill, Steven P. Jones, Roberto Bolli, Tamer M A Mohamed*. A Physiological Biomimetic Culture System for Pig and Human Heart Slices. Circulation Research, Circ Res. 2019 Aug 30;125(6):628-642.
Qinghui Ou, Riham R E Abouleisa, Xian-Liang Tang, Hamzah R Juhardeen, Moustafa H Meki, Jessica M Miller, Guruprasad Giridharan, Ayman El-Baz, Roberto Bolli, Tamer M A Mohamed*. Slicing and Culturing Pig Hearts Under Physiological Conditions J Vis Exp. 2020 Mar 20;(157).
Jessica M Miller, Moustafa H Meki, Qinghui Ou, Sharon A George, Anna Gams, Riham R E Abouleisa, Xian-Liang Tang, Brooke M Ahern, Guruprasad A Giridharan, Ayman El-Baz, Bradford G Hill, Jonathan Satin, Daniel J Conklin, Javid Moslehi, Roberto Bolli, Alexandre J S Ribeiro, Igor R Efimov, Tamer M A Mohamed*. Heart slice culture system reliably demonstrates clinical drug-related cardiotoxicity Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 2020 Aug 30;406:115213.
Jessica M. Miller, Moustafa H. Meki, Ahmed Elnakib, Qinghui Ou, Riham R. E. Abouleisa, Xian-Liang Tang, Abou Bakr M. Salama, Ahmad Gebreil, Cindy Lin, Hisham Abdeltawab, Fahmi Khalifa, Bradford G. Hill, Najah Abi-Gerges, Roberto Bolli, Ayman S. El-Baz, Guruprasad A. Giridharan, Tamer M. A. Mohamed. Biomimetic Cardiac Tissue Culture Model (CTCM) to Emulate Cardiac Physiology and Pathophysiology ex vivo. Nature Communications Biology, 2022 Sep 9;5(1):934.
Fonseka O, Raja R, Ross C, Gare SR, Zhang J, Hille SS, King K, Ruiz-Velasco A, Kaur N, Chen X, Miller JM, Abouleisa RRE, Ou Q, Zou Z, Zhao X, Sotomayor-Flores C, Frank D, Swanton E, Pool MR, Missaglia S, Tavian D, Schiattarella GG, Wang T, Venetucci L, Pinali C, Rutter MK, Keavney BD, Cartwright EJ, Mohamed TMA, Müller OJ, Liu W. XBP1s-EDEM2 Prevents the Onset and Development of HFpEF by Ameliorating Cardiac Lipotoxicity. Circulation. 2025 Jun 3;151(22):1583-1605.
Miller JM, Meki MM, El-Baz AS, Giridharan GA, Mohamed TMA. Culturing Cardiac Tissue Slices Under Continuous Physiological Mechanical Stretches. Methods Mol Biol. 2024;2803:61-74.
Kok CY, Tsurusaki S, Cabanes-Creus M, Igoor S, Rao R, Skelton R, Liao SHY, Ginn SL, Knight M, Scott S, Mietzsch M, Fitzsimmons R, Miller J, Mohamed TMA, McKenna R, Chong JJH, Hill AP, Hudson JE, Alexander IE, Lisowski L, Kizana E. Development of new adeno-associated virus capsid variants for targeted gene delivery to human cardiomyocytes. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2023 Aug 18;30:459-473.