Queen's University (Belfast) View Institution's Website 7 articles published in JoVE Medicine Surgical Porcine Model of Chronic Myocardial Ischemia Treated by Exosome-laden Collagen Patch and Off-pump Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Rishav Aggarwal1, Annie Shao1, Koray N. Potel2, Laura Hocum Stone1, Cory Swingen1, Christin Wright1, Edward O. McFalls3, Tammy A. Butterick4,5, Rosemary F. Kelly1 1Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota, 2 This study presents a surgical porcine model of chronic myocardial ischemia due to progressive coronary artery stenosis, resulting in impaired cardiac function without infarction. Following ischemia, animals undergo off-pump coronary artery bypass graft with epicardial placement of stem cells-derived exosomes-laden collagen patch. This adjunctive therapy improves myocardial function and recovery. Medicine Murine Precision-Cut Liver Slices as an Ex Vivo Model of Liver Biology Michael A. Pearen*1, Hong Kiat Lim*1, Francis D. Gratte2,3, Manuel A. Fernandez-Rojo1,4,5, Sujeevi K. Nawaratna6, Geoffrey N. Gobert7, John K. Olynyk8,9, Janina E. E. Tirnitz-Parker2,10, Grant A. Ramm1,4 1Hepatic Fibrosis Group, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, 2School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, Curtin University, 3School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, 4School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, 5Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (IMDEA) in Food, CEI UAM+CSIC, 6School of Medicine, Griffith University, 7 This protocol provides a simple and reliable method for the production of viable precision-cut liver slices from mice. The ex vivo tissue samples can be maintained under laboratory tissue culture conditions for multiple days, providing a flexible model to examine liver pathobiology. Bioengineering Microfluidic Production of Lysolipid-Containing Temperature-Sensitive Liposomes Calvin C. L. Cheung1, Guanglong Ma1, Amalia Ruiz1, Wafa T. Al-Jamal1 1 The protocol presents the optimized parameters for preparing thermosensitive liposomes using the staggered herringbone micromixer microfluidics device. This also allows co-encapsulation of doxorubicin and indocyanine green into the liposomes and the photothermal-triggered release of doxorubicin for controlled/triggered drug release. Medicine Standardized Measurement of Nasal Membrane Transepithelial Potential Difference (NPD) George M. Solomon1, Inez Bronsveld2, Kathryn Hayes3, Michael Wilschanski4, Paola Melotti5, Steven M. Rowe1, Isabelle Sermet-Gaudelus6,7 1Department of Medicine and the Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2Department of Pulmonology and Tuberculosis, University Medical Center Utrecht, 3Center for Experimental Medicine, Queens University, Northern Ireland, 4Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, 5Centro Fibrosi Cistica, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata, 6Service de Pneumologie et Allergologie Pédiatriques and Center de Ressources et de Compétence de la Mucoviscidose, Hôpital Necker Enfants Malades, 7INSERM U 1151, Institut Necker Enfants Malades Here, we present a standardized protocol to measure the nasal potential difference (NPD). Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) and epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) function are evaluated by the change in the voltage across the nasal epithelium after superfusion of solutions that modify ion channel activity, providing an outcome measure. Biology Isolation of Retinal Arterioles for Ex Vivo Cell Physiology Studies Tim M. Curtis*1, Declan McLaughlin2, Michael O'Hare1, Joanna Kur1, Peter Barabas1, Gordon Revolta1, C. Norman Scholfield3, J. Graham McGeown4, Mary K. McGahon*2 1 This manuscript describes a straightforward protocol for the isolation of arterioles from the rat retina that can be used in electrophysiological, calcium imaging and pressure myography studies. Biochemistry Biotinylated Cell-penetrating Peptides to Study Intracellular Protein-protein Interactions Myriam Jaraíz-Rodríguez1, Ana González-Sánchez1,2, Laura García-Vicente1, Jose M. Medina1, Arantxa Tabernero1 1Instituto de Neurociencias de Castilla y León (INCYL), Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Universidad de Salamanca, 2 This is a protocol to study intracellular protein-protein interactions based on the biotin-avidin pull-down system with the novelty of combining cell-penetrating sequences. The main advantage is that the target sequence is incubated with living cells instead of cell lysates and therefore the interactions will occur within the cellular context. Biology Preparation of Highly Coupled Rat Heart Mitochondria Irina Gostimskaya1, Alexander Galkin2 1Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, 2School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast We describe а protocol for isolation of pure, highly coupled rat heart mitochondria for functional or structural studies of cellular bioenergetics, biophysical measurements, proteomics or mitochondrial DNA and lipids analysis.