The investigation of ECG and blood pressure recordings and the study of heart contractility-relaxation allow researchers to detect and understand these cardiac structural abnormalities, which enhance the heart failure risk.
With the isolated heart setup, the researchers can acquire Left Ventricular Pressure, which is analyzed in IOX2 software to get many parameters such as systolic and diastolic pressure and others. Indeed, the systolic pressure is a clinically important determinant of LVP fall in cardiac overload and in congestive heart failure (Gillebert et al2).
In addition, ECG can be captured through two electrodes placed at the surface of heart and analyzed in ecgAUTO software.
In the working heart perfusion mode, the flow of perfusate mimics the flow of blood in situ. As the name implies, this technique allows the heart to perform its physiological pumping action, i.e. it performs pressure/volume work. Therefore, it provides a complete analysis of heart function and can be used for the study of ischemia-reperfusion. The experiments can even be continued when a cardiac arrest occurs.
The Langendorff perfused heart experiments can be useful in documenting the structural and functional deterioration in animal models of heart failure and the effect of therapies on the transition from compensated to decompensated heart failure. Another possibility is the study of substrate preference using metabolomic (glucose, fatty acids) in heart failure models.