Several interrelated research fields/methods are supported at the Division of Clinical Physiology of the Cardiology Institute. These are: muscle biochemistry, isotope techniques, myocardial cellular physiology, microvascular biology, molecular biology. Our biochemical methods allow tissue level determinations for muscle proteins and second messengers. Laboratory centrifuges, ultracentrifuges and electrophoretic apparatus aid the separation and semiquantitative determination of muscle proteins (by SDS-poliacrylamide gel electrophoresis, Western immunoblot and immunoprecipitation). Our isotope laboratory provides background for the analysis of intracellular phosphorylation processes (using radioactive isotopes) and for assays on the mechanical and phosphorylation properties of isolated and artificially perfused hearts (Langendorff preparations) from small rodents. The method introduced in 2001 for measuring isolated cardiomyocyte mechanics is unique in Hungary. For this latter method small amounts of myocardial tissue with volumes of few mm3 are sufficient, and besides animal hearts these can be obtained from deep-frozen human muscle samples as well. During the determination of isolated cardiomyocyte mechanics Ca2+-dependent force production of the contractile apparatus and kinetic characteristics of the actin-myosin cycle are measured. The microscopic volume of the preparation (i.e. a single cardiac myocyte) allows enzymatic modifications of the contractile proteins (e.g. by phosphorylation or degradation) and to study various model conditions. The instrumental background for microcirculatory investigations was established in 2004. Using a videomicroscopic method biomechanical properties of microvesselsare studied in situ (intravital microscopy) and in isolation at physiological pressure levels. Mechanical data of vessel walls are associated with the results of parallel biochemical, molecular biological and immunohystochemical investigations. To aid molecular biological methods PCR machine, transilluminator, laminar box, deep freezers, CO2 thermostat, scintillation counter and fluorescent microplate reader were installed. 
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