Fig. 4

Impact of cardiomyocyte death in cardiomyocytes-enriched cultures. a Time-series images (green) showing calcium waves in fluorescently labelled contracting myocytes representing contracted and relaxed states, before and after ablation. Ablated cell is indicated by a red circle. Times before and after ablation (t = 0) are indicated. Corresponding grey-scale images show grey values averaged over each of the concentric rings (Ring 1–6) at that time point. The dashed ring at time point 50 s indicates the affected area for high [Ca²⁺]_i. After additional 50 s full recovery took place. Scale bars: 50 µm. b Changes in Ca²⁺ with time based on the values from the slowly varying component of fluorescence intensity. Each Ca²⁺ peak represents contraction and relaxation events of all cells in the respective ring. c Mean Ca²⁺ propagation speed in myocytes after ablation across a distance of 100 µm (Ring 1–5), with error bars showing s.e.m, N = 6. d Mean time of recovery of contractility in cells (50% of amplitude before ablation) after ablation across a distance of 200 µm (Ring 1–10) from ablation point (R0) with error bars showing s.e.m., N = 6