Hamamatsu-Photonics K.k.

Iwayo Nakagawa

Norikazu Sugiyama

Shigeru Uchiyama

Hideshi Oishi

Masahiko Hirano

Yoshinori Mizuguchi

Hideji Fujiwake

The present invention relates to an equipment for analyzing the Ca.sup.2+ concentration in the cardiomyocytes, wherein a fluorescent reagent is loaded into the cells to cause intracellular carboxyl groups to be coupled with Ca.sup.2+. The cells are subjected to pulse-excited lights of differing in wavelengths during a vertical blanking period following a predetermined period of time after application of the stimulative signal. The signal causes the cells to generate fluorescent images varying in fluorescence intensity due to the difference in the wavelength of the pulse-excited lights. The resultant images generated are captured by a high-sensitivity television camera and displayed on a video monitor. A plural number of image data are obtained by varying the timing of the stimulating signal with the images stored in image memory. Image data is accessed through a central processing unit which two-dimensionally analyzes the change in the shape of a single cardiomyocyte due to the contraction and the dynamic change in the intracellular Ca.sup.2+ concentration.

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Hamamatsu, Japan

Iwayo Nakagawa