Cardio and others
Every Cell has a Story to Tell.
Let’s Discover Yours
Electrically active cells play critical roles across many biological systems. Cardiomyocytes and muscle cells, for example, offer powerful in vitro models for investigating excitability, contraction, and tissue-level coordination. Our High-Density Microelectrode Array (HD-MEA) technology captures rich electrophysiological signals at subcellular, single-cell, and network levels, providing precise, label-free insights with unmatched spatial and temporal resolution.
Unbounded possibilities for your model
Adapt our system effortlessly to your biological sample. Capture reproducible, high-quality functional data regardless of your model’s complexity.
Every cell has a story to tell
Explore the behavior of electrically active cells with unmatched single-cell resolution, recording signals from many cells simultaneously to uncover intricate functional profiles.
Always at the right spot
Measure with precision. Record high-quality data with thousands of electrodes per well, perfectly positioned below your cells, ensuring reliable recordings exactly where it matters.
Don’t miss any action potentials
Acquire consistent, high-fidelity action potentials, from the largest to the smallest spikes, and fully characterize both individual cell behavior and population-level dynamics.
Action potential propagating across an iPSC-cardiomyocyte network, captured by MaxOne HD-MEA.
Case studies
Longitudinal Monitoring of iPSC-Cardiomyocyte Network Maturation
iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes progressively develop into spontaneously active, electrically coupled networks, with functional properties evolving substantially over days to weeks in culture. HD-MEA was used to track this maturation process non-invasively across thousands of electrodes simultaneously. Spatially resolved activity maps revealed a progressive expansion of the active network area, while beat-level metrics — including inter-beat interval, beat rate, and signal amplitude — showed characteristic changes consistent with functional maturation. Together, these readouts allow maturation state and culture quality to be assessed in a quantitative, label-free manner.
Maturation of an iPSC-cardiomyocyte network monitored longitudinally by HD-MEA.
Top: Spatial amplitude maps (recorded with ActivityScan Assay) at DIV 4, DIV 12, and DIV 22, illustrating progressive expansion of the active area and increasing signal amplitude across the culture.
Middle: Beat-level metrics across five maturation timepoints (DIV 4, 8, 12, 18, 22): Active Area (%), Inter-beat Interval distributions (violin, left axis) and Beat Rate (right axis), R-spike Amplitude distributions.
Bottom: Representative recordings at DIV 12. Left: averaged field potential trace, with the R-spike at t = 0 and the T-wave endpoint indicating the field potential duration (FPD). Right: Spatial map showing the beat propagation delay across the network.
Data courtesy of MaxWell Biosystems’ user.
Dose-Dependent Effects of Quinidine in iPSC-Cardiomyocyte Networks
Quinidine is a sodium and potassium channel blocker widely used as a reference compound in cardiac safety studies. iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte networks were exposed to a five-point concentration series (0.1–10 µM), and cardiac beating activity was recorded at each dose. Already at 1 µM, changes in beat timing and rhythm variability are visible; at 10 µM, a pronounced increase in inter-beat interval, drop in conduction velocity, and reduction in signal amplitude indicate strong network-level effects. The example illustrates how iPSC-cardiomyocyte networks combined with HD-MEA can be used to detect and quantify compound-induced cardiac effects across multiple functional parameters in a single experiment.
Dose-dependent effects of quinidine (0.1–10 µM) on iPSC-cardiomyocyte network activity.
Top: Inter-beat interval (IBI) plots at baseline, 1 µM, and 10 µM quinidine, illustrating progressive changes in beat timing and rhythm regularity.
Middle and Bottom: Beat-level distributions of IBI, Beat Coverage, Conduction Velocity, and R-spike Amplitude across baseline and all five dose conditions. Violin plots show the full data distribution; white lines indicate the median. R² values on the conduction velocity panel indicate propagation fit quality. Dashed vertical line separates baseline from compound conditions.
Data courtesy of Lee et al. (2024), Frontiers in Physiology, DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1472126, made available under CC BY 4.0.
Tracking electrical maturation in skeletal muscle cultures
Investigate how skeletal muscle cells develop, synchronize, and communicate over time using our HD-MEA technology. The example below shows spontaneous spiking activity recorded at subcellular resolution after one month of culture, highlighting the emergence of organized electrical signaling as myotubes mature into functional, contracting networks.
Top: Spontaneous activity in primary skeletal muscle culture at 30 days in vitro.
Each square in the heatmap represents an individual electrode, color-coded by the average spike amplitude recorded during the session. The red regions indicate areas of high-amplitude spiking, while surrounding lower-amplitude filaments reflect active electrical connections between contracting myotubes. Blue regions denote areas with no detected spiking activity. The spatial heterogeneity and organization of signal amplitudes illustrates tissue maturation and functional compartmentalization. Scale bar: 0.5 mm.
Data adapted from Lewandowska et al., (2018), Frontiers in Physiology, licensed under CC-BY 4.0.
Bottom: Time- and space-resolved spiking activity in skeletal muscle culture.
(A, B) Raster plots showing 5 seconds of spontaneous activity recorded at 19 and 31 days in vitro (DIV), respectively. Each row represents an individual electrode, and each dot marks a detected spike. (C) Magnified view of the first four spikes from (B). (D, E) Spatially resolved spike timing of the second (red) and fourth (blue) spikes highlighted in (C). Scale bar in (E) is 0.5 mm and applies to (D) and (E).
Data adapted from Lewandowska et al., (2018), Frontiers in Physiology, licensed under CC-BY 4.0.
Selected Resources
Development of an innervated human skin equivalent to model nociceptive circuitry in vitro
CardioMEA: comprehensive data analysis platform for studying cardiac diseases and drug responses
Repeated and On-Demand Intracellular Recordings of Cardiomyocytes Derived from Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Long-Term High-Density Extracellular Recordings Enable Studies of Muscle Cell Physiology
MaxOne+ and MaxOne Cardiomyocytes Plating Protocol
This document describes the protocol to plate and maintain cardiomyocytes using MaxOne.
MaxTwo Cardiomyocytes Plating Protocol
This document describes the protocol to plate and maintain cardiomyocytes using MaxTwo 6 and 24-Well plates.
Cardiomyocyte Application Brochure
