In situ measurement of mitochondrial function in the perfused healthy and ischaemic heart

线粒体是人体的“发电站”。在心脏中，燃烧像葡萄糖这样的燃料为心脏提供能量，将血液输送到全身。然而，在某些情况下，比如在心脏手术或心脏病发作的治疗中，这些线粒体可以成为杀手，对心脏造成不可逆转的损害。钙和？活性氧吗?（ROS）在线粒体的不良功能中起着关键作用，但钙在健康的心脏中也起着“好人”的作用。我们的研究旨在增加对钙、活性氧和线粒体之间相互作用的理解，以及如何利用这些信息保护心脏免受损伤并改善其功能。为了做到这一点，我们需要开发一种在整个跳动的心脏中测量这些参数的方法，这是当前应用的重点。其他人已经设计出蛋白质，通过发出荧光来对钙和活性氧的变化做出特异性反应。心脏可以在细胞内的特定位置表达这些蛋白质，比如线粒体，这为我们的实验提供了一个实验模型。光的检测需要开发特殊的设备，使用光导将光引入和从心脏发出，并实时测量多个波长荧光灯强度的快速变化。

Mitochondria are the ?powerhouses? of the heart, burning fuels such as glucose to provide energy for the heart to pump blood around the body. However, there are conditions such as in cardiac surgery or the treatment of a heart attack where these same mitochondria can become killers, initiating irreversible damage to the heart. Calcium and ?reactive oxygen? (ROS) play critical roles in the bad functions of mitochondria but calcium also plays the role of a good guy in the healthy heart. Our research aims to increase understanding of the interactions between calcium, reactive oxygen and mitochondria and how this information can be used to protect the heart from damage and improve its function. In order to do this we need to develop a way of measuring these parameters in the whole beating heart and this is the focus of the present application. Proteins have been engineered by others that respond specifically to changes in calcium and ROS by emitting fluorescent light. The heart can be made to express these proteins in specific locations within the cell, such as the mitochondria, and this provides an experimental model in which to perform our experiments. Detection of the light requires the development of special equipment that brings light to and from the heart using light guides and measures rapid changes in the intensity of the fluorescent light at multiple wavelengths in real time.