Open-source low-cost cardiac optical mapping system

Fluorescent imaging with voltage- or calcium-sensitive dyes, known as optical mapping, is one of the indispensable modern techniques to study cardiac or neural electrophysiology, unsurpassed by temporal and spatial resolution. High-speed CMOS cameras capable of optical registration of action potential propagation are in general very costly. We present a complete solution priced below US$1,000 (including camera and lens) at the moment of publication with an open-source image acquisition and processing software. We demonstrate that the iDS UI-3130CP rev.2 camera we used in this study is capable of 200x200 977 frames per second (FPS) action potential recordings from rodent hearts, with the signal-to-noise-ratio of a conditioned signal of 16 +/- 10. A comparison with a specialized MiCAM Ultimate-L camera has shown that signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) while lower is sufficient for accurate measurements of AP waveform, conduction velocity (+/- 0.04 m/s) and action potential duration (+/- 7ms) in mouse and rat hearts. We used 4-aminopyridine to prolong the action potential duration in mouse heart, thus demonstrating that the proposed system is adequate for pharmacological studies.