Quantitative panoramic imaging of epicardial electrical activity

Fluorescent imaging with voltage- and/or calcium-sensitive dyes has revolutionized cardiac physiology research. Here we present improved panoramic imaging for optically mapping electrical activity from the entire epicardium of the Langendorff-perfused rabbit heart. Combined with reconstruction of the 3D heart surface, the functional data can be conveniently visualized on the realistic heart geometry. Methods to quantify the panoramic data set are introduced by first describing a simple approach to mesh the heart in regular grid form. The regular grid mesh provides substrate for easy translation of previously available non-linear dynamics methods for 2D array data. It also simplifies the unwrapping of curved three-dimensional surface to 2D surface for global epicardial visualization of the functional data. The translated quantification methods include activation maps (isochrones), phase maps, phase singularity, and electric stimulus-induced virtual electrode polarization (VEP) maps. We also adapt a method to calculate the conduction velocities on the global epicardial surface by taking the curvature of the heart surface into account. © 2008 Biomedical Engineering Society.