Tissue baths systems
emkaBATH is a type of tissue bath setups, designed for contractile measures in tissues such as aortic, tracheal, iliac, and papillary muscles, and/or microvessels such as veins, small arteries, and lymph vessels. The system provides heated, oxygenated, and nutrient-rich perfusate to the tissue with or without drug administration and electrical stimulation.
Tissue baths are widely used to study the effects of agonists and antagonists on tissue contractility. Dose-response curves allow for characterization of a drug’s pharmacological profile and the calculation of EC50 or Emax.
Benefits
1
Modular
2
Easy to use
3
Highly reproducible
Description
Modular
Our setups offer up to four independent baths ranging from 5 to 20 mL, and a wide range of hook shapes (i.e. open and closed triangle, C and L-shaped) to accommodate a large variety of isolated tissues strips and (micro)vessels.
Microvessels: veins, small arteries, lymph vessels or tracheal smooth muscle, with lumen diameter from 0.1mm to 3mm and segment lengths up to 3.5mm, and
Tissue strips or vessels (int. diameter 0.5mm to 10 mm, and length up to 40 mm) such as:
- smooth muscle (aortic rings, ileum, uterine tissue, trachea, mesenteric artery, colon)
- cardiac muscle (atrium, ventricle, papillary muscle)
- skeletal muscle (diaphragm)
DID YOU KNOW? Up to four emkaBATH setups, i.e 16 baths, can be monitored from a single computer equipped with IOX2 acquisition software.
Easy to use
Designed to facilitate the experiment, baths and the heater block can be easily removed for cleaning.
Integrated and compact, it fits on lab bench and no separate water heater is needed.
The bath overflow prevents risk of tissue drying out by preventing air exposure between serial washes. Solutions are heated to a target temperature prior to entering the bath, where it is maintained via electronic control. In-line electric heating keeps physiological liquid warm outside of experimental use to allow for quicker temperature acclimation at start of study.
Easily control system manually via mainframe or automatically via IOX2 software with protocols for tissue tensioning, bath filling/emptying/washing, etc.
Highly reproducible
The measurement of isolated tissue contractility following drug administration is widely used in preclinical research. Studying the intrinsic ability of tissue to contact or relax in an isolated tissue bath where external influences are removed can offer complimentary data to in vivo measurements.
Ex vivo tissue bath systems give researchers the ability to control perfusate composition and oxygenation to create various conditions (i.e. anoxia, hypoxia, hypo/hypertensive) without normal homeostatic functions interfering (i.e. neurogenic and hormonal influences) while also controlling environmental aspects such as temperature, etc.
Obtained measurements are highly reproducible and easy to analyze. The use of 4 baths simultaneously provides cleaner data analysis allowing for easier statistical significance to be detected.
System configuration
emkaBATH2
The emkaBATH2 setup is available with a single or dual modules, equipped with tubular baths. Very simple to set up and run, it is manually driven, with a touchscreen for operations and information display (ideal for students).
Automatic bath filling is configurable from software protocol. Calculated parameters generated by IOX2 software can be automatically processed by datanalyst software, to provide statistics such as data group averaging, EC50…, presented in concise tabular format.
The emkaBATH2 includes the following:
- A mainframe, to be placed on a bench and complete with baths, transducers, user interface, pumps, heater, electronics etc.
- A power unit to supply power to the mainframe.
- two beakers, for new and used physiological solution.
- Tissue fixation hooks
.
emkaBATH4
With up to four modules, emkaBATH4 setup answers your more complex requirements.
Fully automated, it can switch from tubular to microvessel baths in a few minutes, to handle microvessels of diameter 0.1mm to 3 mm and up to 3.5 mm long: Check out our myographs
The automatic bath filling/emptying and tissue tensioning can be remotely managed, from a computer equipped with IOX2 software, and can be configured by a protocol.
The emkaBATH4 includes the following:
- A mainframe to be placed on a bench and complete with baths, transducers, integrated amplifiers, user interface, pumps, heater, electronics etc.
- A power unit to supply power to the mainframe.
- Silicone tubing and connectors
- a 2 L perfusate bottle
- a 10 L waste bottle for collecting used perfusate, can be delivered in option
- Tissue fixation hooks (open or close triangle, L or C shape)
An asynchronous stimulator can be optionally delivered with the emkaBATH4 system.
Techniques & measurements
In ex vivo experiments, tissue strips and vessels are studied after isolation from their normal environment. In order to simulate this environment, physiological saline solution is used and experiments are conducted at 37 °C.
emkaBATH is used under isometric conditions (i.e. the length of the muscle is kept constant while the force changes), to analyse force-time, length-time, force-length and velocity-force diagrams.
The tissue is tensioned between two holders. The lower holder is attached to the vernier positioner, which sits on the canopy, and remains stationary during experiments. The upper holder is connected to the isometric transducer. A swivel between the upper holder and the transducer allows for rotatory movement. Hooks are permanently mounted on the upper and on the lower tissue holders.
An optional isotonic transducer is available on request. In this setup, the force is kept constant while the muscle is allowed to shorten.
Outcomes:
- Beat to beat calculation on fast beating tissues (papillary/atrial muscles)
- Detailed calculation on slow contracting (vessel rings, bronchi, ileum) and slow rhythmic (uterus, bladder) tissues
- Relaxation/contraction curves
- Dose/response
- Kinetic
Applications
But also gastrointestinal dysfunctions, hypertension, diabete, heart failure, neurotoxin studies etc.
Related publications
In Silico, Ex Vivo and In Vivo Studies of Roflumilast as a Potential Antidiarrheal and Antispasmodic agent: Inhibition of the PDE-4 Enzyme and Voltage-gated Ca++ ion Channels
Najeeb Ur Rehman et al, Molecules 2020
An Evaluation and Comparison of Vessel Reactivity Using the Descending Aorta and Superior Mesenteric Artery in a Myograph System
John Ross et al, Poster presented by Charles River - SPS Annual Meeting 2019
Clozapine Disrupts Endothelial Nitric Oxide Signaling and Antioxidant System for its Cardiovascular Complications
Gayathri M Nair et al, J Young Pharm, 2019;11(1):105-107
Augmentation of VAMP-catalytic activity of botulinum neurotoxin serotype B does not result in increased potency in physiological systems
Eliott et al, Plos one, 2017
Botulinum Neurotoxins Serotypes A and B induce paralysisof mouse striated and smooth muscles with differentpotencies
Jacquie Maignel-Ludop et al, Pharmacology Research & Perspective, 2017
A comprehensive study of Phospholipid fatty acid rearrangements in the early onset of the metabolic syndrome: correlations to organ dysfunction
Amélie Bacle et al, BioRxiv, 2019
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