Figure 6.

Electrophysiology study in cardiac pericytes (CPs) before and after differentiation toward the cardiomyocyte lineage. (A) Membrane current recorded from representative undifferentiated (left) and differentiated (right) CPs, during a depolarizing voltage ramp from −120 to +80 mV over 400 ms (shown below). (B) A time-series of confocal images of intracellular Ca²⁺, monitored using the Ca²⁺-sensitive fluorescent indicator Fluo-4, from representative undifferentiated (left) and differentiated (right) CPs during application of a membrane-permeable form of IP₃ to release Ca from intracellular stores. The rise in intracellular Ca²⁺ is denoted by the color shift from light blue toward red (shown in scale bar). The vertical scale bars indicate 20 μm. Normalized Fluo-4 fluorescence is plotted against time in the bottom panels, where the presence of BT₃-IP₃/AM is indicated by the gray bar; the time-point for each image is indicated by a filled circle. The inset in the right panel shows the increase of intracellular Ca²⁺ following addition of 110 mmol/L CaCl₂ to the extracellular solution.