While some aspects of clinical and scientific research are common across medicine, research in cardiovascular diseases requires knowledge of an increasing array of procedures, techniques, models and measurements that are highly specialized and unique to this area of investigation. Edited and written by senior investigators, many of whom have been involved in pioneering studies in cardiovascular disease, this new book provides today’s cardiology research professionals with practical how-to guidance on designing, conducting, measuring and reporting their research.

Manual of Research Techniques in Cardiovascular Medicine:

• Reviews the must-know techniques, methods, analyses, models and measurements of cardiovascular research in a practical, “how-to-do-it” approach, resulting in clear-headed guidance to even the most complicated techniques and methods.

• Covers each technique or method beginning with an explanation of when and why it should be selected
followed by step-by-step instructions that include why each step is important; what can go wrong; how to trouble shoot and correct errors, and how to analyze and report results.

• Helps ensure research success, but also, critically, enables readers to understand why and how some experiments fail.

• Contains illustrative figures to reinforce the key components/steps of each method covered.

• Includes a companion website with video clips to support the discussion of particularly challenging techniques, for example animal surgical procedures.

Manual of Research Techniques in Cardiovascular Medicine is an invaluable resource for investigators at all levels, from technicians, students, fellows and other healthcare professionals who are approaching research for the first time, to seasoned investigators in cardiovascular disease, pharmacology, and related areas who need expert guidance on emerging techniques or unfamiliar models or methods.

About the Author

Contents

۱. Measurement of calcium transient ex vivo
۲. Confocal imaging of intracellular calcium cycling in isolated cardiac myocytes
۳. Generating a large animal model of persistent atrial fibrillation
۴. Confocal imaging of intracellular calcium cycling in the intact heart
۵. Recording and measurement of action potentials
۶. Patch-clamp recordings from isolated cardiac myocytes
۷. Optical mapping of the heart
۸. Isolation of colony-forming endothelial progenitor cells
۹. Cardiac resident stem cells
۱۰. Cardiospheres
۱۱. Mesenchymal stem cells
۱۲. Generation and differentiation of human iPS cells
۱۳. Isolation of neonatal and adult rat cardiomyocytes
۱۴. Isolation and culture of vascular smooth muscle cells
۱۵. Isolation and culture of cardiac endothelial cells
۱۶. Isolation and culture of cardiac fibroblasts
۱۷. Murine bone marrow transplantation model
۱۸. In vitro differentiation and expansion of vascular endothelial cells derived from mouse embryonic stem cells
۱۹. Coronary ligation
۲۰. Transverse aortic constriction. a model to study heart failure in small animals
۲۱. Pharmacological models of hypertrophy and failure
۲۲. Hindlimb ischemia
۲۳. The Langendorff preparation
۲۴. Myocarditis and other immunological models of cardiac disease
۲۵. Models of pacing-induced heart failure
۲۶. Porcine myocardial ischemia models
۲۷. Angiogenesis assays
۲۸. Immunohistochemical analysis of cardiac tissue
۲۹. A murine model of cardiac arrest by exsanguination
۳۰. Blood pressurer telemetry, and vascular measurements in the rodent model
۳۱. The setting. imaging consciousr sedatedr or anesthetized rodents
۳۲. Echocardiography. standard techniques (M-mode, two-dimensional imaging, and Doppler)
۳۳. Echocardiography. advanced techniques (tissue Doppler, speckle tracking, and three-dimensional imaging)
۳۴. In vivo tomographic cardiac imaging. positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging
۳۵. In vivo hemodynamics
۳۶. Fractionation of cardiomyocytes and isolation of mitochondria
۳۷. Assessment of glucose and fatty acid metabolism ex vivo
۳۸. Quantification and characterization of atherosclerotic lesions in mice
۳۹. Assessment of cell death in the heart
۴۰. Assessment of mitochondrial function in isolated cells
۴۱. Multinuclear NMR spectroscopy of myocardial energetics and substrate utilization in isolated perfused mouse hearts
۴۲. Measurement of reactive oxygen species in cardiovascular disease
۴۳. Assessing autophagy
۴۴. Assessment of cardiomyocyte size
۴۵. Generation of Cre-loxP mouse models for conditional knockout and overexpression of genes in various heart cells
۴۶. Modulation of myocardial genes via use of adenoviral vectors and RNA interference approaches
۴۷. Overexpression and downregulation of proteins in vitro
۴۸. In vivo microRNA studies
۴۹. Vascular and cardiac studies in zebrafish
۵۰. Vascular and cardiac studies in Drosophila