Heart attack on a chip: Scientists model conditions of ischemia on a microfluidic device
(PHYSorg.com Nanotechnology)

Researchers led by biomedical engineers at Tufts University invented a microfluidic chip containing cardiac cells that is capable of mimicking hypoxic conditions following a heart attack-specifically when an artery is blocked in the heart and then unblocked after treatment. The chip contains multiplexed arrays of electronic sensors placed outside and inside the cells that can detect the rise and fall of voltage across individual cell membranes, as well as voltage waves moving across the cell layer, which cause the cells to beat in unison in the chip, just as they do in the heart. After reducing levels of oxygen in the fluid within the device, the sensors detect an initial period of tachycardia (accelerated beat rate), followed by a reduction in beat rate and eventually arrhythmia which mimics cardiac arrest.