Optical mapping of the cardiac membrane potential and experiment study

An optical mapping system was developed based on its principle, including the LEDs excitation light, and fluorescence detector consisting of the filter, CCD, A/D sampling card and computer. At present, the system could automatically sample and display the image in real time, and finish some data processing work. The membrance potential of the rabbit ventricle had been successively acquired. In addition, experimental methods of the mapping were studied simultaneously. We mapped electrophysiological effects of the acute global ischemia in the rabbit hearts in vitro. The experiments and our simulation results both suggested that dispersion of refractory period and slow conduction velocity were the fundamental mechanisms of reentry arrhythmia in ischemic myocardium.