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Heartbeat
12 November 2012

Heartbeat

During the scariest bit of the film, you feel a familiar pounding in your chest. Most of the time, however, our heartbeat goes unnoticed. To keep an adult human going the heart has to beat 60-80 times a minute – that’s over 100,000 times a day. This constant activity relies on a carefully choreographed pattern of electrical signals, produced by the movement of calcium ions. Now, using zebrafish genetically engineered to produce a calcium-sensitive fluorescent protein, scientists can watch as signals are conducted through its tube-shaped heart. When viewed under a microscope, computer software maps the fluorescent signals (white) through the beating heart. The red lines show how the electrical signal moves from right to left, marking its position every 60 milliseconds. This new approach to studying the heart could give important insights into various cardiac diseases, driving the development of better treatments.

Written by Emma Stoye

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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